Baidu announces second quarter 2020 results

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) (“Baidu” or the “Company”), a leading search engine, knowledge and information centered Internet platform and AI company, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020.

“With COVID-19 becoming more manageable in China, Baidu’s business is steadily rebounding. We are pleased that in-app revenue grew in the second quarter, despite a challenging macro environment, further validating our strategy to make Baidu App a super app through AI-powered building blocks and marketing cloud platform.” said Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu. “Baidu’s new AI businesses, including cloud, smart devices and smart transportation, saw double-digit growth in the second quarter and stand to become an important revenue driver in the years to come.”

“In addition to investing in new AI businesses, Baidu is also diversifying our revenue streams through membership, online games and others to increase the ARPU of our existing traffic.” said Herman Yu, CFO of Baidu. “The healthy growth of Baidu App and new AI businesses have enabled Baidu Core’s adjusted EBITDA margin to reach 41% in the second quarter. We plan to continue heavy investments in technology to maximize Baidu’s future growth potential.”

Other Highlights
Corporate

• As part of corporate social responsibilities, Baidu is partnering with healthcare professionals and government organizations to tackle public health risks and improve the quality of life, using Baidu AI for public health monitoring, drug development and disease diagnosis. Baidu AI healthcare solutions have been adopted by nearly 2,000 hospitals and primary healthcare institutions across 27 provinces.
• Baidu returned US$540 million to shareholders under the 2020 Share Repurchase Program in the second quarter, bringing the Company’s cumulative repurchase for the last two years to approximately US$1.9 billion.
• Baidu’s board of directors recently approved a change to the 2020 Share Repurchase Program, increasing the repurchase authorization from US$1 billion to US$3 billion, which is effective through December 31, 2022.

Mobile Ecosystem

• Baidu App daily active users (“DAUs”) reached 204 million in June 2020, adding 16 million users in the last 12 months.
• As a leading Internet platform for content and services, Baidu has attracted a large variety of knowledge and information-based videos to its platform, including live and short videos. Over 800 sessions of topical live streaming were broadcasted in the second quarter, with sessions like Baidu Wiki Virtual Zoo, Summer Art Festival and Wandering through Civilization Season 2, attracting over 40,000,000 views.
• Baijiahao (“BJH”) publisher accounts reached 3.4 million, up 52% year over year, in June 2020. The large scale of Baidu’s platform is drawing more original content creators to join BJH, which allows easy sharing of content across Baidu App, Haokan, Quanmin and Baidu’s full set of knowledge products.
• Baidu Smart Mini Program (“SMP”) is becoming more lively with the number of SMPs joining Baidu’s network growing over five folds in the last year, and SMP monthly active users (“MAUs”) on Baidu App reaching 339 million, up 25% year over year. App developers are migrating to SMP, which enables users native-app like, closed-loop experience on third-party content and services, without having to leave Baidu and download the host apps.
• Revenue from Baidu Managed Page increased to approximately 30% of Baidu Core’s online marketing services revenue in the second quarter of 2020. Merchants with HTML5 websites across many industries are switching to Managed Page, as the landing page for their search results.

DuerOS

• In June 2020, DuerOS monthly voice queries on Xiaodu devices reached 2.8 billion, nearly doubling from last year, and DuerOS total monthly voice queries reached 5.8 billion, up 57% from last year.
• DuerOS skills store now offers 4,000 skills in wide ranging genres, including education, video, online game and live streaming. DuerOS developer community has grown to over 42,000 members.
• JD.com announced that Xiaodu series of smart displays and smart speakers was the best-selling in the smart speaker category on its platform during this year’s June 18 Shopping Festival.

Cloud, AI Services & AI Platform 

• Baidu formed a strategic partnership with China National Building Materials Group (CNBM Group), the parent of 13 listed companies. CNBM Group plans to use Baidu AI PaaS, equipped with big data and IoT edge computing capabilities, to provide intelligent logistics, intelligent factory and industrial autonomous driving. For example, CNBM Group plans to use Baidu AI PaaS paired with Baidu intelligent map to improve the routing efficiency of its logistics vehicles and track the vehicles whereabouts to optimize operational costs and increase traffic safety.
• Baidu’s AI open platform, built on top of Baidu Cloud, offers over 260 AI capabilities, which are tapped by over 2.1 million developers.
• At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Baidu’s natural language processing framework ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through kNowledge IntEgration) earned the distinction of the SAIL (Super AI Leader) Award, recognizing inspiring technology breakthroughs, application innovations and AI projects that change people’s lives.

Apollo

• The Apollo robotaxi operations in Beijing, Changsha and Cangzhou have expanded into larger networks and more complex road conditions, such as downtown streets.
• In May 2020, Baidu completed the 145,000 square feet Apollo Park in Beijing, an autonomous driving and V2X testing facility that supports testing, operational command center, cloud control system, vehicle warehousing, maintenance and calibration.

iQIYI

• iQIYI subscribers reached 104.9 million, up 4% year over year, in June 2020, and membership revenue was up 19% year over year. iQIYI’s large subscriber base further strengthens iQIYI’s foundation to produce entertainment blockbuster originals.

Second Quarter 2020 Results

Total revenues reached RMB 26.0 billion ($3.69 billion), decreasing 1% year over year. Online marketing revenues were RMB 17.7 billion ($2.50 billion), decreasing 8% year over year. Other revenues were RMB 8.3 billion ($1.18 billion), increasing 18% year over year, driven by the strong growth of iQIYI membership and Baidu’s cloud and smart transportation solutions.

Revenue from Baidu Core reached RMB 18.9 billion ($2.68 billion), decreasing 3% year over year. Revenue from iQIYI reached RMB 7.4 billion ($1.05 billion), up 4% year over year. iQIYI membership revenue grew 19% year over year, partially offset by online advertising revenue declining 28% year over year.

Cost of revenues was RMB 13.1 billion ($1.86 billion), decreasing 19% year over year, primarily due to a decrease in traffic acquisition costs, sales tax and surcharges, and costs of goods sold. The decrease in traffic acquisition costs reflected decreasing union revenues, as the Company focused on optimizing profitability over revenue growth.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were RMB 4.4 billion ($625 million), decreasing 16% year over year, primarily due to decreased marketing spending and personnel related expenses.

Research and development expenses were RMB 4.8 billion ($685 million), increasing 2% year over year.

Operating income was RMB 3.6 billion ($516 million) and operating margin was 14%. Baidu Core operating income was RMB 5.0 billion ($703 million) and Baidu Core operating margin was 26%.

Non-GAAP operating income was RMB 5.6 billion ($793 million), and non-GAAP operating margin was 22%. Non-GAAP Baidu Core operating incomewas RMB 6.5 billion ($917 million), and non-GAAP Baidu Core operating margin was 34%.

Total other income was RMB 366 million ($53 million), decreasing 70% year over year, primarily due to loss from equity method investments, which is booked a quarter in arrears and reflects the impact of COVID-19 on its investees.

Income tax expense was RMB 1.2 billion ($174 million), which included tax withholding accrual for dividend distribution to offshore entities, compared to RMB 416 million in Q2 2019.

Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB 3.6 billion ($507 million), and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 10.31 ($1.46). Net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB 4.4 billion ($626 million). Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu was RMB 5.1 billion ($719 million), and non-GAAP net margin was 20%. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS amounted to RMB 14.73 ($ 2.08). Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB 5.7 billion ($801 million), and non-GAAP net margin for Baidu Core was 30%.

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB 7.0 billion ($993 million) and adjusted EBITDA margin was 27%. Adjusted EBITDA for Baidu Core was RMB 7.8 billion ($1.1 billion) and adjusted EBITDA margin for Baidu Core was 41%.

As of June 30, 2020, cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments were RMB 154.1 billion ($21.80 billion), and cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments excluding iQIYI were RMB 144.6 billion ($20.46 billion). Free cash flow was RMB 7.3 billion ($1.04 billion). Free cash flow excluding iQIYI was RMB 8.8 billion ($1.24 billion).

For more information on the adoption of ASU 2019-02 beginning January 1, 2020, in accordance with the new accounting standard, please see explanation under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”

Financial Guidance
For the third quarter of 2020, Baidu expects revenues to be between RMB 26.3 billion ($3.7 billion) and RMB 28.7 billion ($4.1 billion), representing a growth rate of -6% to 2% year over year, which assumes that Baidu Core revenue will grow between -7% and 3% year over year. The COVID-19 situation in China is evolving, and business visibility is very limited. The above forecast reflects Baidu’s current and preliminary view, which is subject to substantial uncertainty.