Baidu Announces Second Quarter 2026 Results

BEIJING, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU and HKEX: 9888 (HKD Counter) and 89888 (RMB Counter)), ("Baidu" or the "Company"), a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026.

"With AI-powered Business now firmly established as the core of Baidu, we are strengthening the foundations for our next phase of AI-driven growth. AI Cloud Infra sustained strong momentum this quarter, with GPU Cloud^[1] growth accelerating further off an already high base. Our AI Applications portfolio also continued to flourish, with stronger capabilities and increasingly diverse use cases. Apollo Go made steady progress with its global expansion, while further strengthening its safety and operational capabilities and enhancing the rider experience," said Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu. "While our online marketing business remains under pressure, the growing momentum in our core AI-powered Business reaffirms Baidu's transition from an internet-centric company to an AI-first company, and strengthens our confidence in our long-term growth potential."

"The quarter was marked by several highlights. First, revenue from Baidu Core AI-powered Business^[2] reached RMB 12.5 billion and continued to account for half of Baidu General Business revenue. Second, operating cash flow for Baidu remained positive for the fourth consecutive quarter, reaching RMB 3.4 billion in the second quarter. Third, we are moving forward with our conversion to a dual-primary listing in Hong Kong and expect it to become effective within this year." said Haijian He, CFO of Baidu. "Going forward, we remain firmly committed to investing in AI as the core driver of Baidu's long-term growth."

Operational Highlights^[2]

Corporate

• In July 2026, following the Board's approval of a motion to pursue a voluntary conversion to a dual-primary listing (the "Primary Conversion"), Baidu submitted its application for the Primary Conversion and received the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's acknowledgement of the application. The Company will convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on August 26, 2026 prior to the Primary Conversion to seek shareholder approval for related matters. The Primary Conversion is expected to become effective within this year, subject to the shareholder approval and the approval of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• At the 2026 AI for Good Global Summit, three Baidu AI use cases—Apollo Go, Miaoda & MeDo, and PaddlePaddle—were recognized as winning cases and featured in the Innovate for Impact Report.
• According to MSCI's March 2026 ESG rating update, Baidu maintained its "AA" rating and continued to demonstrate industry-leading ESG performance.
• Baidu has returned US$259 million to shareholders since the beginning of Q1 2026 through repurchases of its shares under the current share repurchase program.

Baidu Core AI-powered Business

AI Cloud Infra

• Revenue from AI Cloud Infra was RMB 7.3 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 50% year over year.
• Within AI Cloud Infra, revenue from GPU Cloud^[3] increased by 283% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, further accelerating from 184% growth in the previous quarter.

AI Applications

• Revenue from AI Applications was RMB 2.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 3% year over year.
• Baidu launched an enterprise edition of DuMate, its general-purpose agent for everyday productivity, in June 2026.
• Baidu Wenku and Baidu Drive continued to strengthen their AI-powered features, expanding new capabilities and enhancing existing ones, including through upgrades to GenFlow. In June 2026, AI DAU penetration across Baidu Wenku and Baidu Drive increased by 27.4% year over year, reflecting broader adoption of their AI-powered features.

Robotaxi

• Apollo Go continued to advance its global expansion. In London, Apollo Go began open-road testing in partnership with Uber and Lyft. In Dubai, Apollo Go launched fully driverless commercial operations, with rides also available through the Uber app, in addition to its own app. In Hong Kong, Apollo Go received the city's first permits for fully driverless testing and commenced testing on Airport Island, becoming the first autonomous ride-hailing service provider globally to conduct fully driverless testing in a right-hand-drive, left-hand traffic robotaxi market. In Switzerland, Apollo Go conducted open-road testing in partnership with PostBus. Apollo Go also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan's Turlov Private Holding Ltd. to jointly explore autonomous ride-hailing services in the country.
• To date, Apollo Go's global footprint has reached 28 cities, and its fleets have accumulated over 350 million autonomous kilometers, including over 240 million fully driverless autonomous kilometers, with an outstanding safety record.

AI-native Marketing Services

• Revenue from AI-native marketing services reached RMB 2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026, approximately flat year over year.
• Baidu App's MAUs reached 644 million in June 2026.

The following table sets forth selected revenue highlights for our Baidu Core AI-powered Business for the periods indicated:

Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results for Baidu^[3],[4]

Financial highlights

The following table sets forth revenue highlights for Baidu General Business:

Revenue was RMB31.3 billion ($4.62 billion), decreasing 2% quarter over quarter and 4% year over year. Revenue from Baidu General Business was RMB25.2 billion ($3.71 billion), decreasing 3% quarter over quarter and 4% year over year. Revenue from iQIYI was RMB6.3 billion ($927 million), increasing 1% quarter over quarter and decreasing 5% year over year.

Cost of revenue was RMB19.1 billion ($2.82 billion), decreasing 3% quarter over quarter, primarily due to a decrease in costs related to AI Cloud business, partially offset by an increase in traffic acquisition costs, and increasing 4% year over year, primarily due to increases in costs related to AI Cloud business.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were RMB4.6 billion ($677 million), decreasing 6% quarter over quarter and 23% year over year. The year over year decrease was primarily due to decreases in expected credit losses and channel spending expenses.

Research and development expenses were RMB4.6 billion ($679 million), increasing 5% quarter over quarter and decreasing 10% year over year, both of which were primarily due to fluctuations in personnel-related expenses.

Operating income was RMB3.0 billion ($446 million) and operating margin was 10%. Non-GAAP operating income was RMB3.8 billion ($558 million) and non-GAAP operating margin was 12%.

Total other income, net was RMB184 million ($27 million), compared to RMB626 million last quarter and RMB4.9 billion for the same period last year. The year over year decrease was primarily due to a decrease in fair value gain from long-term investments and an increase in net foreign exchange loss arising from exchange rate fluctuation between Renminbi and U.S. dollar.

Income tax expense was RMB1.0 billion ($147 million), compared to RMB528 million last quarter and RMB881 million for the same period last year.

Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB2.3 billion ($342 million), net margin for Baidu was 7% and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB5.74 ($0.85). Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu was RMB2.6 billion ($379 million), non-GAAP net margin for Baidu was 8% and non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB7.22 ($1.06).

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB6.2 billion ($906 million) and adjusted EBITDA margin was 20%.

We define total cash and investments as cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments, net, long-term time deposits and held-to-maturity investments, and adjusted long-term investments. As of June 30, 2026, total cash and investments were RMB283.1 billion ($41.72 billion). Operating cash flow was RMB3.4 billion ($506 million).

For detailed financial information of Baidu General Business and iQIYI, please see the appended financial tables.

Changes in the Composition of Board Committees

In connection with the Primary Conversion, the board of directors of the Company (the "Board") has approved the following changes to the composition of the committees of the Board, with effect from the date on which the Primary Conversion becomes effective:

Mr. Yuanqing Yang, an independent director of the Company, will be appointed as an additional member of the audit committee of the Board. Following such appointment, the audit committee will comprise Ms. Xiaodan Liu (chairperson), Mr. Jixun Foo and Mr. Yuanqing Yang.

Ms. Xiaodan Liu, an independent director of the Company, will be appointed as an additional member of the corporate governance and nominating committee of the Board. Following such appointment, the corporate governance and nominating committee will comprise Mr. Jixun Foo (chairperson), Mr. Yuanqing Yang and Ms. Xiaodan Liu.

Conference Call Information

Baidu's management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM on Aug 18, 2026, U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 PM on Aug 18, 2026, Beijing Time).

Please register in advance of the conference call using the link provided below. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of "Baidu Inc. Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call". Please follow the steps to enter your registration details, then click "Register". Upon registering, you will then be provided with the dial-in number, the passcode, and your unique access PIN. This information will also be emailed to you as a calendar invite.

For pre-registration, please click:
https://s1.c-conf.com/diamondpass/10056174-8o7ckp.html

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial-in number(s), the passcode and unique access PIN) provided in the calendar invite that you have received following your pre-registration.

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at https://ir.baidu.com. 

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, trading on NASDAQ under "BIDU" and HKEX under "9888". One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Among other things, Baidu's and other parties' strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Baidu may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in announcements made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Baidu's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Baidu's growth strategies; its future business development, including development of new products and services; its ability to attract and retain users and customers; competition in the Chinese Internet search and newsfeed market; competition for online marketing customers; changes in the Company's revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of its revenues; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to intellectual property rights; the expected growth of the Chinese-language Internet search and newsfeed market and the number of Internet and broadband users in China; Chinese governmental policies relating to the Internet and Internet search providers, and general economic conditions in China and elsewhere. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and announcements on the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Baidu does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of the press release, and Baidu undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Baidu's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, Baidu uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu, non-GAAP net margin, non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted long-term investments and free cash flow. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Baidu believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of its recurring core business operating results, such as operating performance excluding non-cash charges or non-operating in nature. The Company believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to Baidu's historical performance and liquidity. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP financial measures is that these non-GAAP measures exclude certain items that have been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant component in the Company's results of operations. These non-GAAP financial measures presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to the Company's data.

Non-GAAP operating income represents operating income excluding share-based compensation expenses, and amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu represents net income attributable to Baidu excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations, disposal gain or loss, impairment of long-term investments, and fair value gain or loss of long-term investments and exchangeable bonds, adjusted for related income tax effects. Baidu's share of equity method investments for these non-GAAP reconciling items, amortization and impairment of intangible assets not on the investees' books, accretion of their redeemable non-controlling interests, and the gain or loss associated with the issuance of shares by the investees at a price higher or lower than the carrying value per share, adjusted for related income tax effects, are also excluded.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS represents diluted earnings per ADS calculated by dividing non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu, by the weighted average number of ordinary shares expressed in ADS. Adjusted EBITDA represents non-GAAP operating income excluding depreciation of fixed assets, and amortization of intangible assets excluding those resulting from business combinations. Adjusted long-term investments represent long-term investments, net, with publicly listed equity method investments adjusted to fair value based on quoted market prices.

For more information on non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measure."