Doubts over Google spur interest in Baidu

Baidu Inc, owner of China's most popular Internet search engine, said its clients became more confident about the company after biggest rival Google Inc indicated it may end its operations in the country.

"What we have seen is that our customers' confidence in Baidu is certainly higher," CEO Robin Li said yesterday in response to an analyst's question on the potential effects of Google's possible exit from China. "We expect to benefit from that."

Baidu jumped as much as 10 percent in after-hours trading in the US after the company forecast first-quarter sales will rise more than analysts estimated. The shares have outperformed Chinese Internet stocks including Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba.com Ltd this year on expectations that the Beijing-based company will gain sales from Google's customers in China, the world's biggest Internet market by user numbers.