{"id":744366,"date":"2026-08-18T21:40:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T21:40:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:40:38","slug":"baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/","title":{"rendered":"Baidu\u2019s revenue falls for a fifth quarter as ads keep sliding"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af9d4d4afb54\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6af9d4d4afb54\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/#The_two_halves_of_Baidu_are_pulling_apart\" >The two halves of Baidu are pulling apart<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/#Ernie_has_fallen_behind_and_the_CEO_knows_it\" >Ernie has fallen behind, and the CEO knows it<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/#The_AI_bet_is_expensive\" >The AI bet is expensive<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/#Robotaxis_and_a_Hong_Kong_listing\" >Robotaxis and a Hong Kong listing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/baidus-revenue-falls-for-a-fifth-quarter-as-ads-keep-sliding\/#Whether_the_pivot_pays_is_unproven\" >Whether the pivot pays is unproven<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/08\/Baidu-Science-Technology-Park.avif\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p>Baidu revenue fell for a fifth straight quarter. The advertising business kept shrinking faster than the AI business could grow. The Chinese search company <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/baidu-announces-second-quarter-2026-results-302853860.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reported its results<\/a> on Tuesday, with second-quarter revenue of RMB31.3bn ($4.62bn). That is down 4 percent on a year earlier and 2 percent on the previous quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB2.3bn ($342mn). That is down from RMB7.3bn a year earlier, a fall <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-08-18\/baidu-posts-fifth-straight-sales-drop-after-ai-lags-rivals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bloomberg put<\/a> at 68 percent. The company\u2019s US-listed shares fell after the numbers. They dropped as much as 10 percent to $93.70, according to Bloomberg. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/chinas-baidu-misses-second-quarter-revenue-estimates-2026-08-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters reported<\/a> a 7 percent slide in early trading.<\/p>\n<p>The revenue figure missed analyst forecasts. The <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/tech\/big-tech\/article\/3364436\/baidu-quarterly-revenue-drops-4-ai-cloud-surge-fails-offset-advertising-slump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South China Morning Post<\/a> put the consensus at RMB31.6bn from a Bloomberg poll. Reuters cited an LSEG average of RMB31.96bn. Either way, Baidu came in short.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_two_halves_of_Baidu_are_pulling_apart\"><\/span>The two halves of Baidu are pulling apart<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The problem is the old business. Online marketing revenue, Baidu\u2019s traditional mainstay, fell 19 percent year on year to RMB13.1bn. Reuters attributed the drop to a weak Chinese property sector and cautious consumer spending. Both have pushed companies to cut marketing budgets.<\/p>\n<p>The AI side is growing fast off a smaller base. Baidu\u2019s Core AI-powered Business brought in RMB12.5bn, up 25 percent. It now accounts for half of the company\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> business revenue. Inside that, AI Cloud Infra rose 50 percent to RMB7.3bn.<\/p>\n<p>The sharpest number is GPU Cloud, the business of renting out AI accelerators. Its revenue rose 283 percent year on year, accelerating from 184 percent growth the quarter before. Clients are rushing to rent computing power. Baidu renamed the line this quarter. It previously called it sub<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a>ion revenue from AI accelerator infrastructure. The company said the growth reflects mounting demand for public cloud AI computing.<\/p>\n<p>Baidu restructured its reporting late last year to break the AI businesses out on their own, spanning cloud, applications and marketing. That segment passed half of Baidu\u2019s core sales for the first time in the March quarter, Bloomberg noted. It held roughly there this time.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ernie_has_fallen_behind_and_the_CEO_knows_it\"><\/span>Ernie has fallen behind, and the CEO knows it<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Baidu\u2019s Ernie model has gone months without a major upgrade, Reuters reported, while rivals ship newer ones. Bloomberg wrote that Ernie now trails open-weight models such as Moonshot AI\u2019s. Those rivals perform on par with OpenAI and Anthropic on key benchmarks, Bloomberg said.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive Robin Li made regaining that ground the centre of his message. He told analysts that Baidu would return Ernie to the frontier of AI, Reuters reported. \u201cIn a market like this, we believe long-term competitiveness ultimately comes down to sustained <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> investment, application-driven approach, and patience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Those rivals are the ones the desk has tracked closing the gap. Alibaba\u2019s Qwen model has been closing on Moonshot in size. Moonshot in turn trained its Kimi K3 model on 20,000 Nvidia chips rented through Alibaba\u2019s cloud.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_AI_bet_is_expensive\"><\/span>The AI bet is expensive<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Winning the AI business costs money up front. Excluding its streaming unit iQIYI, Baidu\u2019s capital expenditure <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a>led in the quarter, Bloomberg reported. It reached RMB11.4bn, up from RMB3.78bn a year earlier. That spending on chips and data centres is what analysts expect to keep pressuring margins even as AI revenue climbs.<\/p>\n<p>Baidu is not alone in that squeeze. Its rival Tencent this month reported that its AI compute bill outgrew its cash flow, the same pattern of heavy upfront spending on models that have yet to pay their way.<\/p>\n<p>Baidu\u2019s own cash position is still large. It reported RMB283.1bn ($41.72bn) in total cash and investments, and operating cash flow of RMB3.4bn, positive for a fourth straight quarter. It has returned $259mn to shareholders through buybacks since the start of this year, under a programme it set alongside its first dividend in February.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Robotaxis_and_a_Hong_Kong_listing\"><\/span>Robotaxis and a Hong Kong listing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Beyond software, Baidu is leaning on autonomous driving. Its Apollo Go robotaxi service has reached 28 cities and logged more than 350mn autonomous kilometres, over 240mn of them fully driverless. It began open-road testing in London with Uber and Lyft, launched driverless commercial rides in Dubai, and won Hong Kong\u2019s first fully driverless testing permits.<\/p>\n<p>That expansion follows a setback at home. A fleet outage in Wuhan in April triggered an industry-wide safety review and a three-month freeze on new robotaxi permits, Bloomberg reported. China has since resumed issuing them. The Apollo Go push abroad builds on approvals such as its Level 4 clearance in Switzerland in June.<\/p>\n<p>On the corporate side, Baidu said its dual-primary listing in Hong Kong should take effect this year, giving mainland investors direct access to its shares. It is also spinning off its chip unit Kunlunxin, which is targeting a Hong Kong listing to tap demand for local alternatives to Nvidia.<\/p>\n<p>Baidu is casting the whole shift as a change of identity. Chief financial officer Haijian He said operating cash flow stayed positive for a fourth consecutive quarter, and that the company remains committed to investing in AI as its core growth driver. The company\u2019s flagship Baidu App still reached 644mn monthly active users in June, the release said, giving it a large base to sell AI features into.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Whether_the_pivot_pays_is_unproven\"><\/span>Whether the pivot pays is unproven<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Not every analyst is convinced the AI push can carry Baidu. Bloomberg Intelligence\u2019s Robert Lea wrote that the company\u2019s prospects rest on turning money-losing AI businesses profitable, and that he doubts it can, because it lacks the scale to compete with China\u2019s largest platforms.<\/p>\n<p>Three numbers would settle the question over the coming quarters. Whether AI Cloud growth keeps outrunning the advertising decline in absolute terms, not just in percentages. Whether the tripled capital spending starts converting into profit rather than eroding it. And whether an upgraded Ernie can actually close the gap on Moonshot and Alibaba that opened this year. None is answered yet.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/baidu-q2-2026-earnings-revenue-fifth-drop-ai-cloud\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baidu revenue fell for a fifth straight quarter. The advertising business kept shrinking faster than the AI business could grow. The Chinese search company reported its results on Tuesday, with second-quarter revenue of RMB31.3bn ($4.62bn). That is down 4 percent on a year earlier and 2 percent on the previous quarter. Net income attributable to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}