Baidu Reports 3% Revenue Decline as China's Economic Slowdown Impacts Advertising

The tech giant sees growth in AI adoption but struggles to offset falling ad revenue and increased competition.

Baidu's third-quarter revenue fell to 33.6 billion yuan ($4.6 billion), marking its largest decline in over two years, though it slightly exceeded market estimates.
Net income rose 14% year-over-year to 7.6 billion yuan, driven by cost management and AI investments, despite challenges in its core advertising business.
The company's AI platform, Ernie, has seen significant adoption growth, now handling 1.5 billion daily API calls, more than double the volume from August.
Baidu continues to expand its autonomous vehicle efforts, with 70% of its robotaxi rides now fully driverless across multiple cities in China.
Increased competition from ByteDance and other platforms, coupled with China's economic challenges, has pressured Baidu's market leadership in AI and advertising.