A happy Valentine quack to the person who spoke with me yesterday about Baidu’s record profits. I don’t have an easy way to follow the Chinese search and ad company. I did a bit of poking around and located “Baidu Q4 Profit Up 48.2%, Guides Q1 Revenue above Estimates” and was surprised at the numbers. The Baidu managers generated about US$60 million in profit, up from US$42 million in its third quarter, 2009. In a lousy economy, Baidu suggested that the money train would keep on rolling.
Who cares?
I don’t but I think that the performance of Baidu and the size of the Chinese market mean something to Google. As everyone knows, Google has been waffling on China in a “yes, we love you” and “no, we don’t love you” approach to search, mobile telephony, and Chinese laws.
My newsreader contained this gem, “Google’s Sergey Brin Says He’s Optimistic about Staying in China.” According to the write up, Mr. Brin allegedly said:
“We want to find a way to work within the Chinese system. A lot of people might think I am naive and that might be true.
I don’t know about naive but I know about the need to satisfy shareholder expectations. Leaving one of the world’s largest markets to Baidu may create a competitor that could take a big bite out of the Google’s financial hide. China? Buzz? Australia? The Department of Justice? Exciting times for the math club as it seeks China love.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2010