- Korda misses cut at US Women's Open
- New Zealand's Fox, Scotland's MacIntyre share PGA Canadian Open lead
- Hindu holy city votes as India's six-week election ends
- Tyson fight postponed following health scare: organisers
- Helmet-wearing Biden aims to emulate back-to-back Super Bowl champs
- JLo cancels summer tour as Affleck split rumors swirl
- England all-rounder Woakes taking time out from cricket after father's death
- France beat England, Spain win in Women's Euro qualifiers
- Swiatek enjoys French Open birthday boost, Sinner, Alcaraz into last 16
- Farrell's career at Saracens ends with Premiership semi-final loss
- Stock markets mixed as US inflation unchanged
- Irish trainer Weld rolls back the years in Epsom Oaks
- USA vow to play 'fearless cricket' in World Cup debut
- Ogier leads Tanak in Rally Italia
- Ukraine gets draft approval for $2.2 bn IMF payout
- Shilese Jones out of US gymnastics championships but still eyes Paris
- Bagnaia's perfect Italian MotoGP practice hit by grid penalty
- 'Time for this war to end': Biden pushes Israeli plan for Gaza truce
- Pandemic agreement talks could continue for another year
- Underdogs Dortmund have 'total belief' against Real Madrid
- Protester ties himself to goalpost to delay Scotland-Israel women's football match
- NFL Bills sign Tokyo Olympic wrestling champ Steveson
- Ocon 'hurt' by online attacks after crash into Alpine teammate
- NATO chief seeks 'at least' 40 bn euros a year in Ukraine aid
- Archer and Wood's 'extra edge' excites England's Livingstone
- Geneva auto show closes shop after 119 years
- Israel offers new 'roadmap' to end Gaza war, says Biden
- Six wounded in knife attack at German anti-Islam rally
- Five things to watch in the Champions League final
- Giant lithium partnership created in Chile
- Ledecky says faith in anti-doping system at 'all-time low'
- Four dead in Colombian bridge collapse
- South African parties jostle to set terms of coalition talks
- Champions League final most 'dangerous' game: Madrid's Ancelotti
- England's Carse given three-month cricket ban for betting offences
- UN mission in Iraq to end after two decades
- UBS marks takeover milestone as Credit Suisse is no more
- Scotland's Dykes in injury scare ahead of Gibraltar friendly
- Swiatek marks birthday with comfortable win at French Open
- FIFA extend rules on maternity and adoption
- Acerbi absent but Spalletti says Italy "have everything" they need for Euros
- Stock markets wobble as US inflation unchanged
- Islam critic among six wounded in Germany knife attack
- US approves Moderna's RSV vaccine for older adults
- Trump lashes out at 'sick' opponents in 'unfair' trial
- Sick of strays, Turkey weighs dog crackdown
- Bagnaia dominates Italian MotoGP practice
- French Open day 6: Who's saying what
- Danilovic hails 'out of this planet' Djokovic
- Mbappe move to Real Madrid expected early next week: source
China's Baidu posts weakest quarterly revenue growth in over a year
Chinese internet giant Baidu announced Thursday its slowest quarterly revenue growth in over a year, as competition between top players in the country's cutting-edge tech sector intensifies.
Baidu is a key player in China's tech industry, which once charted years of ballooning growth until Beijing imposed a regulatory crackdown on the sector starting in 2020.
The period of harsh oversight appears to be waning now as regulators look for ways to jumpstart an economy that has failed to pick up steam since the scrapping of tough pandemic measures in late 2022.
Beijing-based Baidu operates China's leading search engine and derives a large part of its revenue from advertising.
The firm achieved revenue of $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, according to an earnings report released Thursday at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The figure represents a year-on-year increase of one percent -- the slowest quarterly revenue growth recorded by Baidu since the final quarter of 2022.
Net profit during the first quarter reached $755 million, down six percent year-on-year.
The latest results come after Baidu announced a sharp 169 percent year-on-year rise in net income in 2023, according to annual results published in February.
Baidu faces increasingly formidable competition from domestic rivals including Tencent, the operator of ubiquitous messaging platform WeChat, and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
The firm has poured investment into artificial intelligence, developing chatbot Ernie -- equivalent to ChatGPT, which is blocked in China.
Baidu has also expanded operations in the growing autonomous vehicle sector, with fleets of driverless taxis in Beijing and other cities across the country.
During a surprise visit to Beijing last month by Tesla boss Elon Musk, reports emerged that the US automaker had entered into an agreement with Baidu regarding the provision of local mapping and navigation services.
Baidu's announcement of results comes two days after the release of earnings reports by a pair of its Chinese tech giant peers, Tencent and Alibaba.
Tencent -- one of the world's leading gaming companies with other operations in messaging, content streaming and AI -- also announced Tuesday its weakest quarterly revenue growth in over a year.
The same day saw e-commerce and tech giant Alibaba post moderate growth in its annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31, with revenue of $130.4 billion, up eight percent year-on-year.
Beijing has been seeking to increase state support for a flagging economy in recent months, as high youth unemployment and a spiralling debt crisis in the property sector threaten to drag down growth.
W.Lapointe--BTB