Baidu, a company with 15 years of AI development, delivered disappointing Q3 2025 results. On the evening of the 18th, Baidu announced revenue of 31.174 billion yuan, down 7% year-over-year (YoY), with net profit attributable to shareholders swinging to a loss of 11.232 billion yuan from a 7.632 billion yuan profit a year earlier. Non-GAAP net profit fell 36% YoY to 3.77 billion yuan.
Baidu's cash cow—online marketing—continued to shrink, with revenue dropping 18% YoY to 15.3 billion yuan, dragging down overall performance. Meanwhile, AI-driven businesses contributed approximately 10 billion yuan, accounting for 30% of total revenue. However, core AI segments like intelligent cloud showed sequential declines, casting doubt on growth prospects.
In recent years, Baidu's innovation efforts have repeatedly fallen behind rivals like Tencent and Alibaba. Founder Robin Li recently admitted in an interview that Baidu "lost leadership opportunities due to lack of focus" and pledged to concentrate on technology-driven sectors.
**Cash Cow Weakens Amid 11.2 Billion Yuan Quarterly Loss** Baidu's total Q3 revenue declined 7% YoY to 31.174 billion yuan, continuing a downward trend. The primary culprit was the 18% drop in online marketing revenue, marking the steepest decline since Q2 2024.
iQiyi, Baidu's video streaming arm, also underperformed, with revenue falling 8% YoY to 6.7 billion yuan due to slower industry growth and lack of hit content.
The net loss of 11.232 billion yuan included a 16.2 billion yuan impairment charge for outdated infrastructure assets. CFO Herman He explained that the write-down would optimize asset structures for high-end AI computing needs. He projected improved non-GAAP operating margins in 2025 as efficiency measures take effect.
Notably, Baidu App's monthly active users grew just 1% YoY to 708 million in September, slowing from 7% and 5% growth in March and June, respectively.
**AI Business Hits 10 Billion Yuan but Faces Intensifying Competition** Baidu's AI revenue reached nearly 10 billion yuan, driven by a 33% surge in intelligent cloud infrastructure sales (4.2 billion yuan) and a 262% jump in AI-native marketing services (2.8 billion yuan). However, competition from Alibaba Cloud and ByteDance's Volcano Engine is mounting pressure.
Baidu's intelligent cloud revenue has shown volatility: Q1 (6.7 billion yuan, +42% YoY), Q2 (6.5 billion yuan, +27% YoY), and Q3 (4.2 billion yuan, +33% YoY but down ~35% sequentially).
Robin Li acknowledged that no single foundational AI model can dominate all fields, citing shortcomings in AI-generated content and digital livestreaming—areas Baidu aims to improve.
**Is AI Overhaul of Baidu Search a Misstep?** Baidu was an early AI adopter, launching its Ernie model in 2019. Yet, its generative AI products lacked ChatGPT-level impact until Ernie Bot's 2023 debut. Even then, rivals like DeepSeek and Kimi quickly overtook it in user engagement.
Ahead of the earnings release, Li conceded Baidu's past missteps in diversification and vowed to prioritize technology-driven projects. However, challenges remain as Ernie Bot (renamed Wenxiaoyan) fades from prominence and Baidu App's user growth stalls.
Baidu's AI-powered search overhaul—hailed by Li as the "world's most aggressive," with 70% rich-media coverage—has drawn criticism. Users complain that excessive multimedia reduces information density and search efficiency.
Balancing innovation with user experience will be critical as Baidu navigates its AI transition amid shrinking ad revenue and rising competition.
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