Baidu's mixed Q2 report underscored by AI cloud strength and online marketing sluggishness

[Baidu Headquarters]
V2images/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images

Chinese internet search giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BIDU#hasComeFromMpArticle=false#source=section%3Amain_content%7Cbutton%3Abody_link%7Cfirst_level_url%3Anews]) on Wednesday reported mixed results for the second quarter as it continued to see declines in its online marketing operations while AI cloud momentum accelerated.

In Q2, revenue from Baidu Core was down 2% at RMB 26.3B but was ahead of the Bloomberg consensus estimate of RMB 25.8B. Within that, online marketing revenue was down 15%, but non-online marketing revenue was up 34%, mainly driven by its AI cloud business.

"AI Cloud business continued to deliver robust and healthy revenue growth," CEO Robin Li said. "This performance helped mitigate the near-term pressure on online marketing business."

Revenue from its sister company, iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/IQ#hasComeFromMpArticle=false#source=section%3Amain_content%7Cbutton%3Abody_link%7Cfirst_level_url%3Anews]), was down 11% at RMB 6.6B.

Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go provided over 2.2M rides in Q2, up 148% year over year. In June 2025, Baidu App's MAUs reached 735M, up 5%.

Net income attributable to Baidu for the quarter was RMB 7,322M, or RMB 20.35 per share, compared to RMB 5,488M, or RMB 15.01 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted per-share basis, the company earned RMB 13.58, marginally below the average analyst estimate of RMB 13.59.

Total revenue fell 4% to RMB 32.7B and was slightly below estimates.

BIDU shares are down marginally in premarket trading in the U.S. IQ shares are down nearly 5% before the bell.

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