Baidu.com's Profit Jumps

The 'Chinese Google' tops revenue estimates.
By Pia Sarkar ,

SAN FRANCISCO - Profit soared at Chinese language Internet search provider

Baidu.com

(BIDU) - Get Report

, which also guided second-quarter revenue above current expectations.

The company said Thursday that net income for the first quarter jumped 71.5% to $20.9 million, or 60 cents a share, in the first quarter, matching the estimate consensus of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Costs related to Baidu's Japan operations in the first quarter totaled $4.3 million, which reduced earnings by 12 cents a share.

Revenue jumped 108% to $81.9 million. That topped estimates by Wall Street analysts, who were looking for first quarter revenue of $75 million. It also beat the company's own guidance of $73.1 million to $75.1 million.

Online marketing revenue for the first quarter was $81.7 million, representing a 108.5% increase from a year ago. The growth was mainly driven by increases in the number of active online marketing customers as well as revenue per customer.

Baidu had nearly 161,000 active online marketing customers in the first quarter, which represents an increase of 43.8% from a year ago, and a 3.9% over the fourth quarter.

Traffic acquisition costs as a component of cost of revenues were $10.9 million, representing 13.3% of total revenues compared with 10.3% a year ago. The company attributed the increase to continued growth of revenue contribution from Baidu Union members.

Shares of Baidu were up 4.1%, or $14, to $356 in after-hours trading.

For the second quarter, Baidu expects to generate revenue in the range of $111 million to $114 million, above analysts' estimates for $101 million.

"Instrumental to our growth were the ceaseless efforts of our sales force and customer service teams who continued to deliver strong results despite a long Chinese New Year holiday and severe snow storms across large parts of China," said Robin Li, Baidu's chief executive, in a statement. "In addition, a larger customer base contributed to strong organic and Baidu Union growth."

Baidu still maintains a healthy lead over

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

as the search-engine destination of choice in China.

Last month, Baidu appointed Jennifer Li as its new chief financial officer, replacing Shawn Wang, who died in an accident in China in December.

Li came from GMAC, where she served as controller of the company's North American operations. Prior to that, she was CFO of

General Motors

(GM) - Get Report

China, where she was responsible for overseeing finance functions of the automaker's wholly owned and joint venture businesses.

Earlier this month, Baidu named Peng Ye as chief operating officer, poaching him from

Apple

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China, where he served as country general manager, overseeing all business operations for Apple China.

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