On March 1, Baidu announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021 and its unaudited financial report for the full year of 2021.
According to the fourth quarter financial report data, Baidu Q4 achieved revenue of 33.09 billion yuan, which was previously expected by the market to be 32.23 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company (non-US GAAP) was 4.1 billion yuan, compared with the previous market expectation of 2.9 billion yuan. The two indicators of revenue and net profit both exceeded market expectations. Revenue from core non-ad businesses, including the cloud business, surged 63 percent in three months, while online ad revenue grew just 1 percent.
According to the 2021 annual report data, Baidu achieved revenue of 124.5 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 16% year-on-year. Core revenue was RMB95.2 billion, up 21% year-on-year, and core non-advertising revenue rose 71% year-on-year.
In this regard, Baidu Chief Financial Officer Luo Rong said:
"In 2021, Baidu's core revenue increased by 21% year-on-year, and non-advertising revenue increased by 71% year-on-year, which is very impressive. Looking ahead, we will further strengthen the operational efficiency and execution of the organization to promote long-term healthy and sustainable growth of the business. ”
Baidu Chairman and CEO Robin Li emphasized:
"Baidu's strategic development direction is highly consistent with China's goals in scientific and technological innovation and in the green economy."
In 2021, Baidu handed over a steady growth answer sheet, in which the non-advertising business grew strongly, especially the intelligent cloud business grew rapidly. Baidu AI technology has penetrated into China's traditional industries and government service departments, helping thousands of industries to integrate innovation and improve efficiency. At the same time, Baidu Radish Run's order volume in the fourth quarter was about 213,000 orders, an increase of nearly double from the previous quarter, and the order volume led the world, once again consolidating Baidu's leading position in the global autonomous driving market. ”
Baidu 2021 Q4 financial report: revenue and net profit exceeded market expectations, and core revenue in the fourth quarter increased by 12% year-on-year
Adjusted profit per ADS in the fourth quarter was RMB11.60, analysts estimated 9.25 yuan, adjusted operating profit in the fourth quarter was 4.31 billion yuan, analysts estimated 2.88 billion yuan, adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was 5.76 billion yuan, and analysts estimated 4.58 billion yuan.
Baidu's core revenue in the fourth quarter was RMB25.978 billion, up 12% year-on-year.
Among them, online advertising revenue was 19.1 billion yuan, an increase of 1% year-on-year; non-advertising business revenue was 6.9 billion yuan, an increase of 63% year-on-year, mainly driven by cloud computing and other artificial intelligence businesses.
Revenue from iQIYI was RMB7.4 billion (US$1.16 billion), down 1% year-on-year.
Operating costs of RMB17.3 billion (US$2.71 billion) increased 19% year-over-year, primarily due to increased traffic acquisition costs, bandwidth costs, costs of sales, and other costs associated with the expansion of AI businesses.
Baidu's fiscal 2021 financial report: core non-advertising revenue surged 71% year-on-year
According to the financial report data, Baidu's core revenue in fiscal 2021 was 74 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion), an increase of 12% year-on-year, and non-advertising revenue was 21.2 billion yuan, up 71% year-on-year, mainly driven by cloud computing and other artificial intelligence businesses.
Revenue from iQIYI was RMB30.6 billion (US$4.8 billion), up 3% year-on-year.
Operating costs of RMB64.3 billion (US$10.09 billion) increased 17% year-over-year, primarily due to increased content costs, traffic acquisition costs, bandwidth costs, costs of sales and other costs associated with new AI services.
Highlights of each business: AI and intelligent cloud have become new driving forces for growth
In 2021, China's Internet search leader is trying to complete the transformation from an online advertising company to a technology giant specializing in self-driving cars, clouds, chips and other technologies. In 2021, the company's core R & D investment of 22.1 billion yuan, R & D investment accounted for 23%, AI, intelligent cloud technology has become a new driving force for its performance growth. Highlights of each business are as follows:
(1) Mobile ecology: Baidu App user data reached a new high, and small sales led the way
In December 2021, Baidu App's monthly active users reached 622 million, an increase of 14% year-on-year, and the proportion of daily login users reached 82%.
According to Strategy Analytics, IDC and Canalys data, in the first three quarters of 2021, Xiaodu ranked first in global smart screen shipments and China's smart speaker shipments.
(2) AI, intelligent cloud: growth is still strong
(3) Intelligent driving: The number of radish fast running orders has nearly doubled month-on-month
In the fourth quarter of 2021, the number of manned orders for the driverless service "Radish Run" was about 213,000, nearly doubling from the previous quarter. Up to now, Radish Run has covered 8 cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Changsha, Cangzhou and Yangquan; among them, Beijing, Chongqing and Yangquan have all started official fee operations.
Quarterly Auto, a joint venture with Geely, completed nearly $400 million in Series A financing.
(4) iQIYI: the number of users reached 99 million
As of December 2021, the number of Aiyi users reached 99 million.
After the release of the earnings report, Baidu's U.S. stocks rose slightly before the market.