Baidu profit up 27 percent as mobile grows

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. says its latest quarterly profit rose 27 percent as its mobile operation passed its traditional desktop computer-based search business in user numbers.

The company said Thursday it earned 3.9 billion yuan ($631.5 million), or 11 yuan ($1.79) per share. Revenue rose 52 percent over a year earlier to 13.5 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).

The company said mobile traffic surpassed personal computer traffic and mobile contributed 36 percent of total revenue.