Baidu fourth-quarter revenue slips 2% amid weak ad spending, but AI remains bright spot

Baidu CEO Robin Li said 2024 was a transformational year as the company pivots to AI, where it faces fresh competition from start-up DeepSeek

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Baidu is leaning heavily into AI as a first mover in the Chinese market, but it is facing fresh competition amid excitement over the open-source models from start-up DeepSeek. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:28pm, 18 Feb 2025

Chinese internet search giant Baidu’s revenue fell 2 per cent in the fourth quarter, as China’s sputtering economic growth weighed on advertising spending, even as artificial intelligence (AI) remained a bright spot despite fresh competition.

Beijing-based Baidu’s total revenue for the fourth quarter fell to 34.1 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion), the company reported on Tuesday. Revenue for the year declined 1 per cent to 133 billion yuan.

Net income for the December quarter reached 5.1 billion yuan, up 100 per cent year on year. Net income for the full year was 23.7 billion yuan, a 17 per cent increase over 2023.

Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li Yanhong said 2024 marked a pivotal year in the firm’s transformation from an internet-centric business to one that is AI-first.

“With our strategic foresight increasingly validated, we expect our AI investments to deliver more significant results in 2025,” he said in a statement.

Baidu’s core online marketing revenue for the year fell 3 per cent to 73 billion yuan.

Junjie He, Baidu’s interim chief financial officer, said the “softness in online marketing” was offset by the company’s AI cloud business, which grew 26 per cent for the quarter.