If China’s economy has slowed, one would not know it from a quick glance at the performance of Baidu. Revenues at the country’s biggest internet search engine by share of advertising sales were up 60 per cent from a year earlier in the second quarter – net income was 70 per cent higher. More of that is forecast for the next three months.
中国经济增长固然放缓了，但你不会从百度(Baidu)的业绩中发现这一迹象。以广告销售收入的市场份额计算，百度是中国最大的网络搜索引擎，其第二季度营收同比增长了60%，净利润增长了70%。预计未来三个月还将更高。
Notably, small and medium-sized enterprises – one of China’s most beleaguered sectors – is driving that growth. Baidu added 31,000 advertising customers over the quarter, most of them SMEs. After all, more targeted search advertising is a good use of marketing budgets shrinking under slowing exports and rising labour costs.
值得注意的是，中小型企业——中国处境最困难的部门之一——推动了百度的增长。百度在过去一个季度新增广告客户3.1万个，其中大部分是中小型企业。毕竟，随着出口减慢和劳动力成本上涨，企业的营销预算有所收缩，因此做更多的针对性搜索广告可以更加有效地利用这些预算。