Baidu had a cash loss of 8.9 billion yuan due to a one-third sale of Ctrip’s market value.
Since this year’s Q1 experienced a huge loss, “Can Baidu recover?” It has become a key proposition for Baidu’s 2019 quarterly earnings report.
At the moment, Baidu’s financial performance is still “mixed and mixed”.
Beijing time on November 7 at 6 am (14:00 on November 6th, US time), Baidu announced 2019 Unaudited financial report for the third quarter. During the reporting period, Baidu achieved revenue of RMB 28.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 7%.
This figure is slightly higher than analysts’ expectations. Earlier, analysts said that Baidu Q3’s performance will be affected by weak search services and market adverse conditions, revenue is expected to decline by 5% to 3.89 billion US dollars (about 27.53 billion yuan).
From the operational indicators of Baidu Q3, the operating income that can better show the company’s operating strength has been significantly improved compared with the previous quarter. Q3 reached 2.36 billion yuan, up by 91% from the previous month; however, compared with 4.43 billion last year. Yuan, still down 47% year-on-year.
As of 36 deadlines, Baidu’s after-hours price was $112/share, a maximum increase of 4.66%.
In terms of total revenue and operating income, Baidu’s financial performance seems to be a little bit warmer, but it can be seen as a fall in the ice.
In terms of profitability indicators, Baidu Q3 experienced a net loss of 6.34 billion yuan after Baidu Q2’s earnings report was positively profitable three months ago. This indicator even exceeded Baidu’s 327 million yuan in Q1’s first quarterly loss since 2005.
Why did Baidu have such a large profit margin in Q3? The reason is related to Baidu’s previous sell-off of Ctrip.
On September 26, Ctrip announced that its shareholder Baidu intends to issue 31.304 million American Depositary Shares (ADS). Each ADS represents 0.125 shares of common stock with a valuation of approximately US$1 billion, which means Baidu sells its holdings. Some 30% of Ctrip shares.
Since Baidu sold Ctrip equity, Ctrip’s market value was 17.075 billionThe US dollar is almost “waist” compared to the peak. Therefore, the overall market value of Ctrip is fluctuating, which has become the main reason for the damage of Baidu’s investment income.
According to Baidu’s official statistics, Baidu’s third-quarter results turned losses, mainly because of the cash impairment losses of equity investment of 8.9 billion yuan, while the sell-off Ctrip is the largest equity investment change generated by Baidu in the third quarter.
This also explains the main reason for the sharp decline in Baidu Q3’s net profit under US GAAP.
“Because some of the equity investment has experienced a decline in valuation over a long period of time, it has included an unrealized loss of 8.9 billion yuan, which has nothing to do with the company’s main business operations.” Baidu official said 36.
According to Non-GAAP (non-GAAP), Baidu Q3 net profit was 4.4 billion yuan, down 35% year-on-year.
In addition, in the official press release of Baidu Financial News, there was also a CFO Yu Zhengyi who had previously rumored to leave the company. Baidu tried to break through the rumors of Yu Zhengyi’s departure.
“Despite the uncertainties of the macroeconomic environment and industry-related policy changes, we increased our revenue by 9% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter,” said Baidu Chief Financial Officer Yu Zhengyi. Said.
Yu Zhengjun also specifically mentioned the relevant situation of Baidu App: “In terms of cost control, we are more cautious and pay attention to the return on investment. Baidu App’s in-end search and information flow margins have been greatly improved to promote the company’s overall profit margin. Improvement.”
Reviewing Baidu Core, the most important business of Baidu, is the combination of search service and transaction service. It is still difficult to cover the growth rate in Q3.
In Baidu Q3’s earnings report, Baidu Core achieved revenue of 21 billion yuan, down 3% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter; net profit attributable to Baidu’s core was 4.23 billion yuan; positive for non-GAAP The profit was 6.31 billion yuan, down 25% year-on-year.
Finally, Baidu also announced the data of its main business in the Q3 financial report, including:
In September, Baidu App’s daily active users reached 189 million, a year-on-year increase of 25%;
In September, the number of content creators of Baijia number reached 2.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 57%; Baidu smart small program monthly active users reached 290 million, a year-on-year increase of 157%;
In September, the first batch of 45 self-driving taxi teams in the country opened trial operation in Changsha. Recently, Baidu obtained 15 autopilot road test licenses in Wuhan, and obtained 30 manned test licenses in Luzhou, Hebei. The total number of Baidu autopilot road test licenses reached 150, accounting for all approved autopilot routes in China.More than half of the license plates are measured.
In September, the number of intelligent voice assistant users of Baidu Map exceeded 280 million, more than double the same period last year.
As of September, the number of iQiyi subscription members reached 105.8 million, an increase of 31% year-on-year.