Baidu’s revenue growth declines as mobile usage increases in China

The company’s revenue has increased but revenue growth rate has slumped along with profits

Baidu’s latest Q1 2015 financial report is clearly showing the negative impact which the increase in mobile usage has brought. China’s largest search engine is seeing its revenue growth take a dip as well as its net profit. PC users are slowly showing a downward trend and most people are using their mobile phones for internet browsing.

Mobile users taking over the PC users is a clear indication that all tech companies must now focus on shifting towards the mobile edge. Though mobile segment of the company has contributed a significant chunk to the overall revenue for Q1 2015, this change hasn’t been going on as smoothly as it should.

The company’s total revenue for the quarter was RMB 12.725 billion ($2.053 billion) which has shown a 34 percent increase but represents a decline in annual revenue growth. All through the years, the company’s revenue has continued to grow but the growth rate has declined considerably. The unfortunate thing for the company is that this increase in revenue hasn’t translated into increased profits. The profits look grim at RMB 2.155 billion which represents a decrease of 9.2 percent from last year’s quarter.

Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li focused on the growth of mobile in a statement:

“Mobile’s tremendous momentum continued this quarter, with mobile contributing 50% of total revenue. Baidu is redefining the search box by building an ecosystem to connect people with services and drive closed loop transactions. Baidu’s platform is comprehensive and robust, and we plan to fully exploit the huge growth potential ahead — in mobile marketing, online to offline, and key select verticals such as healthcare, education and financial services — by leveraging our solid mobile foundation, exceptional technology advantage, and proven operational experience.”