Baidu Q4 revenue surges 33%, beating expectations

Baidu Inc has reported better-than-expected growth in fourth-quarter revenue, as it worked to link up more of its users with merchants.

Nasdaq-listed Baidu said revenue between October and December rose 33.1 percent to 18.7 billion yuan ($2.89 billion), well ahead of the 16.32 billion yuan expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

It also reported a profit of 24.71 billion yuan in the fourth quarter, up 663 percent year-on-year, though much of that came from gains recognized as a result of its exchange of Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd shares with Ctrip.com International Ltd.