BEIJING, May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Weibo Corporation (“Weibo” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: WB and HKEX: 9898), a leading social media in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

“We are pleased with our progresses made on the AI product front,” said Gaofei Wang, CEO of Weibo. “On the user front, we remain committed to creating user value by focusing on the integration of Weibo’s social features and upgrade of the recommendation system. In the first quarter, we further grew our user community and deepened user engagement. On the AI application front, we have made Weibo Intelligent Search, our AI-powered search function, available to all users. During the first quarter, both the user base and daily search queries of Weibo Intelligent Search achieved decent sequential growth. On the monetization front, we delivered solid performance of ad business, leveraging our strengths in content marketing and enhanced ad placement efficiency of our real-time-bidding information feed ad products. Benefiting from solid execution of disciplined spending strategy, our operating efficiency further improved, which laid foundation for us to invest for our product competitiveness, AI technology, as well as shareholder return.”

First Quarter 2025 Highlights 

• Net revenues were US$396.9 million, flat year-over-year or an increase of 1% year-over-year on a constant currency basis ^[1].
• Advertising and marketing revenues were US$339.1 million, flat year-over-year or an increase of 1% year-over-year on a constant currency basis ^[1].
• Value-added services (“VAS”) revenues were US$57.7 million, an increase of 2% year-over-year or 3% year-over-year on a constant currency basis ^[1].
• Income from operations was US$110.3 million, representing an operating margin of 28%.
• Net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders was US$107.0 million and diluted net income per share was US$0.41.
• Non-GAAP income from operations was US$129.5 million, representing a non-GAAP operating margin of 33%.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders was US$119.5 million and non-GAAP diluted net income per share was US$0.45.
• Monthly active users (“MAUs”) were 591 million in March 2025.
• Average daily active users (“DAUs”) were 261 million in March 2025.

First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

For the first quarter of 2025, Weibo’s total net revenues were US$396.9 million, relatively flat compared to US$395.5 million for the same period last year.

Advertising and marketing revenues for the first quarter of 2025 were US$339.1 million, relatively flat compared to US$339.0 million for the same period last year. Advertising and marketing revenues excluding advertising revenues from Alibaba were US$296.5 million, a decrease of 6% compared to US$316.4 million for the same period last year. The decrease mainly resulted from less revenue contributions from the online gaming and handset manufacturing sectors on a year over year basis, primarily due to high base effect and difference of handset product launch schedule respectively. Advertising and marketing revenues from Alibaba were US$42.6 million, an increase of 89% compared to US$22.6 million, mainly attributable to its strong promotional demand related to Spring Festival Gala, as well as incremental ad spend in promoting its AI-related products.

VAS revenues for the first quarter of 2025 were US$57.7 million, an increase of 2% compared to US$56.5 million for the same period last year, primarily driven by the growth of membership services revenues.

Costs and expenses for the first quarter of 2025 totaled US$286.5 million, a decrease of 3% compared to US$295.8 million for the same period last year, primarily resulting from the decrease in sales and marketing expenses.

Income from operations for the first quarter of 2025 was US$110.3 million, compared to US$99.7 million for the same period last year. Operating margin was 28%, compared to 25% last year. Non-GAAP income from operations was US$129.5 million, compared to US$125.8 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP operating margin was 33%, compared to 32% last year.

Non-operating income for the first quarter of 2025 was US$22.1 million, compared to non-operating loss of US$23.6 million for the same period last year. Non-operating income for the first quarter of 2025 mainly included (i) net interest and other income of US$13.7 million; and (ii) gain from fair value change of investments of US$8.1 million, which was excluded under non-GAAP measures.

Income tax expenses for the first quarter of 2025 were US$24.3 million, compared to US$25.0 million for the same period last year.

Net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders for the first quarter of 2025 was US$107.0 million, compared to US$49.4 million for the same period last year. Diluted net income per share attributable to Weibo’s shareholders for the first quarter of 2025 was US$0.41, compared to US$0.19 for the same period last year. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders for the first quarter of 2025 was US$119.5 million, compared to US$106.6 million for the same period last year. Non-GAAP diluted net income per share attributable to Weibo’s shareholders for the first quarter of 2025 was US$0.45, compared to US$0.41 for the same period last year.

As of March 31, 2025, Weibo’s cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled US$2.08 billion, compared to US$2.35 billion as of December 31, 2024. The decrease of Weibo’s cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments mainly resulted from the purchase of long-term wealth management products in the first quarter of 2025. For the first quarter of 2025, cash provided by operating activities was US$113.2 million, capital expenditures totaled US$9.4 million, and depreciation and amortization expenses amounted to US$13.6 million.

Conference Call

Weibo’s management team will host a conference call from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM Eastern Time on May 21, 2025 (or 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM Beijing Time on May 21, 2025) to present an overview of the Company’s financial performance and business operations.

Participants who wish to dial in to the teleconference must register through the below public participant link. Dial-in and instructions will be provided in the confirmation email upon registering.

Participants Registration Link:  

https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIbb5c504e4aeb43a380f69d373cfb8ca0

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at http://ir.weibo.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP income from operations, non-GAAP net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders, non-GAAP diluted net income per share attributable to Weibo’s shareholders and adjusted EBITDA. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, measures of the Company’s financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures exclude stock-based compensation, amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, net results of impairment and provision on investments, gain/loss on sale of investments and fair value change of investments, non-GAAP to GAAP reconciling items on the share of equity method investments, non-GAAP to GAAP reconciling items for the income/loss attributable to non-controlling interests, income tax expense related to the amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions and fair value change of investments (other non-GAAP to GAAP reconciling items have no tax effect), and amortization of issuance cost of convertible senior notes, unsecured senior notes and long-term loans. Adjusted EBITDA represents non-GAAP net income attributable to Weibo’s shareholders before interest income/expense, net, income tax expenses/benefits, and depreciation expenses.

The Company’s management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in their financial and operating decision-making, because management believes these measures reflect the Company’s ongoing operating performance in a manner that allows more meaningful period-to-period comparisons. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in the following ways: (i) in comparing the Company’s current financial results with the Company’s past financial results in a consistent manner, and (ii) in understanding and evaluating the Company’s current operating performance and future prospects in the same manner as management does. The Company also believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding certain expenses, gains/losses and other items (i) that are not expected to result in future cash payments or (ii) that are non-recurring in nature or may not be indicative of the Company’s core operating results and business outlook.

Use of non-GAAP financial measures has limitations. The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures do not include all income and expense items that affect the Company’s operations. They may not be comparable to non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. Accordingly, care should be exercised in understanding how the Company defines its non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures are set forth in the section below titled “Unaudited Reconciliation of Non-GAAP to GAAP Results.”

About Weibo

Weibo is a leading social media for people to create, share and discover content online. Weibo combines the means of public self-expression in real time with a powerful platform for social interaction, content aggregation and content distribution. Any user can create and post a feed and attach multi-media and long-form content. User relationships on Weibo may be asymmetric; any user can follow any other user and add comments to a feed while reposting. This simple, asymmetric and distributed nature of Weibo allows an original feed to become a live viral conversation stream.

Weibo enables its advertising and marketing customers to promote their brands, products and services to users. Weibo offers a wide range of advertising and marketing solutions to companies of all sizes. Weibo generates a substantial majority of its revenues from the sale of advertising and marketing services, including the sale of social display advertisement and promoted marketing offerings. Weibo displays content in a simple information feed format and offers native advertisement that conform to the information feed on our platform. We are continuously refining our social interest graph recommendation engine, which enables our customers to perform people marketing and target audiences based on user demographics, social relationships, interests and behaviors, to achieve greater relevance, engagement and marketing effectiveness.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology, such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “confidence,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, Weibo’s expected financial performance and strategic and operational plans, as described, without limitation, in quotations from management in this press release, contain forward-looking statements. Weibo may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in the Company’s periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in announcements, circulars or other publications made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Hong Kong Stock Exchange”), in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Weibo’s limited operating history in certain new businesses; failure to sustain or grow active user base and the level of user engagement; the uncertain regulatory landscape in China; fluctuations in the Company’s quarterly operating results; the Company’s reliance on advertising and marketing sales for a majority of its revenues; failure to successfully develop, introduce, drive adoption of or monetize new features and products; failure to compete effectively for advertising and marketing spending; failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses; risks associated with the Company’s investments, including equity pick-up and impairment; failure to compete successfully against new entrants and established industry competitors; changes in the macro-economic environment, including the depreciation of the Renminbi; and adverse changes in economic and political policies of the PRC government and its impact on the Chinese economy. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Weibo’s annual reports on Form 20-F and other filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date hereof, and Weibo assumes no obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Contact:
Investor Relations
Weibo Corporation
Phone: +86 10 5898-3336
Email: ir@staff.weibo.com 

BEIJING, May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU and HKEX: 9888 (HKD Counter) and 89888 (RMB Counter)) (“Baidu” or the “Company”), a leading AI company with a strong Internet foundation, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025.

“Baidu Core revenue grew 7% year over year in the first quarter, driven by the accelerating momentum of AI Cloud, which surged 42% year over year. The strong performance of our AI Cloud business underscores the growing market recognition of our distinctive strength in providing full-stack AI products and solutions with a highly competitive price-performance advantage. We also achieved a pivotal milestone in our robotaxi business, as Apollo Go expanded internationally by entering Dubai and Abu Dhabi, reinforcing our commitment to bringing safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomous ride-hailing services to global markets,” said Robin Li, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu. “We are confident that our AI-first strategy positions us to remain at the forefront and to capture long-term growth opportunities in the AI era.”

“AI Cloud continued its robust growth in the first quarter, which provides solid support to our overall revenue while we accelerate the AI transformation across our mobile ecosystem,” said Junjie He, Interim CFO of Baidu. “Looking ahead, we are strongly committed to investing in AI to translate our technological strengths into sustainable long-term growth.”

First Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights^[1]

Operational Highlights

Corporate

• Baidu released ERNIE 4.5, its first flagship foundation model with multimodal capabilities, and ERNIE X1, its first reasoning model, in March 2025. Baidu launched enhanced versions, ERNIE 4.5 Turbo and ERNIE X1 Turbo, in April, delivering improved performance at significantly lower pricing.
• Apollo Go received Gold in the Driverless Vehicles category at the 2025 Edison Awards, recognizing it as China’s largest autonomous ride-hailing service.
• Baidu ranked second in Asia Pacific on Fast Company’s 2025 Most Innovative Companies list, following DeepSeek, and was recognized for “deploying the world’s largest autonomous driving experiment.”
• Baidu held China’s largest portfolio of AI-related patents and patent applications across various areas, including foundation models and AI agents, as of December 31, 2024, according to a recent report by CICS-CERT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
• Baidu released its annual ESG Report on April 28, 2025, which details Baidu’s latest ESG policies and sustainability initiatives (https://esg.baidu.com/Uploads/Baidu_2024_ESG_Report.pdf).
• Baidu has returned US$445 million to shareholders since the beginning of Q1 2025, bringing the cumulative repurchase to US$2.1 billion under the 2023 share repurchase program.

AI Cloud

• Baidu upgraded its MaaS platform, Qianfan, with an expanded model library and more comprehensive toolkits, extending support for the training and fine-tuning of multimodal and reasoning models to further facilitate AI-native application development.
• Baidu officially released version 3.0 of its deep learning framework, PaddlePaddle, in April 2025.

Intelligent Driving

• Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service, expanded into Dubai and Abu Dhabi in March 2025. In May, Apollo Go commenced open-road validation testing in Dubai.
• Apollo Go entered into a long-term strategic partnership with CAR Inc., China’s leading auto rental service provider, in May 2025 to launch fully autonomous vehicle rental services.
• Apollo Go obtained permission to conduct open-road testing with designated passengers in Hong Kong in April 2025.
• Apollo Go provided over 1.4 million rides in the first quarter of 2025, up 75% year over year, underscoring the accelerating momentum of its scaled operations. As of May 2025, the cumulative rides provided to the public by Apollo Go surpassed 11 million.

Mobile Ecosystem

• In March 2025, Baidu App’s MAUs reached 724 million, up 7% year over year.
• Managed Page accounted for 47% of Baidu Core’s online marketing revenue in the first quarter of 2025.

First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Total revenues were RMB32.5 billion ($4.47 billion), increasing 3% year over year.

• Revenue from Baidu Core was RMB25.5 billion ($3.51 billion), increasing 7% year over year; online marketing revenue was RMB16.0 billion ($2.21 billion), decreasing 6% year over year, and non-online marketing revenue was RMB9.4 billion ($1.30 billion), up 40% year over year, mainly driven by AI Cloud business.
• Revenue from iQIYI was RMB7.2 billion ($990 million), decreasing 9% year over year.

Cost of revenues was RMB17.5 billion ($2.41 billion), increasing 14% year over year, primarily due to an increase in costs related to AI Cloud business and traffic acquisition costs.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were RMB5.9 billion ($815 million), increasing 10% year over year, primarily due to an increase in channel spending and promotional marketing expenses, partially offset by a decrease in personnel-related expenses.

Research and development expenses were RMB4.5 billion ($626 million), decreasing 15% year over year, primarily due to a decrease in personnel-related expenses.

Operating income was RMB4.5 billion ($621 million). Baidu Core operating income was RMB4.2 billion ($574 million), and Baidu Core operating margin was 16%. Non-GAAP operating income was RMB5.3 billion ($735 million). Non-GAAP Baidu Core operating income was RMB4.9 billion ($671 million), and non-GAAP Baidu Core operating margin was 19%.

Total other income, net was RMB4.5 billion ($618 million), increasing 260% year over year, mainly due to an increase in fair value gain and pickup of earnings from long-term investments, partially offset by the decrease in net foreign exchange gain arising from exchange rate fluctuation between Renminbi and U.S. dollar.

Income tax expense was RMB1.2 billion ($162 million), compared to RMB883 million for the same period last year.

Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB7.7 billion ($1.06 billion), and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB21.59 ($2.98). Net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB7.6 billion ($1.05 billion), and net margin for Baidu Core was 30%. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu was RMB6.5 billion ($891 million). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB18.54 ($2.55). Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB6.3 billion ($872 million), and non-GAAP net margin for Baidu Core was 25%.

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB7.2 billion ($993 million) and adjusted EBITDA margin was 22%. Adjusted EBITDA for Baidu Core was RMB6.7 billion ($925 million) and adjusted EBITDA margin for Baidu Core was 26%.

As of March 31, 2025, cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments were RMB142.0 billion ($19.57 billion), and cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments excluding iQIYI were RMB136.7 billion ($18.84 billion). Free cash flow was negative RMB8.9 billion (negative $1.23 billion), and free cash flow excluding iQIYI was negative RMB9.2 billion (negative $1.27 billion), mainly due to an increase of investment in AI business. We define net cash position as total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments, net, long-term time deposits and held-to-maturity investments, and others, less total loans, convertible senior notes, and notes payable. As of March 31, 2025, net cash position for Baidu was RMB159.0 billion.

Conference Call Information

Baidu’s management will hold an earnings conference call 8.00 AM on May 21, 2025, U.S. Eastern Time (8.00 PM on May 21, 2025, Beijing Time).

Please register in advance of the conference call using the link provided below. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of “Baidu Inc. Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call”. Please follow the steps to enter your registration details, then click “Register”. Upon registering, you will then be provided with the dial-in number, the passcode, and your unique access PIN. This information will also be emailed to you as a calendar invite.

For pre-registration, please click:
https://s1.c-conf.com/diamondpass/10046864-38s6ff.html

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial-in number(s), the passcode and unique access PIN) provided in the calendar invite that you have received following your pre-registration.

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at https://ir.baidu.com.

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu’s mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, trading on NASDAQ under “BIDU” and HKEX under “9888”. One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, Baidu’s and other parties’ strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Baidu may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in announcements made on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Hong Kong Stock Exchange”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Baidu’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Baidu’s growth strategies; its future business development, including development of new products and services; its ability to attract and retain users and customers; competition in the Chinese Internet search and newsfeed market; competition for online marketing customers; changes in the Company’s revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of its revenues; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to intellectual property rights; the expected growth of the Chinese-language Internet search and newsfeed market and the number of Internet and broadband users in China; Chinese governmental policies relating to the Internet and Internet search providers, and general economic conditions in China and elsewhere. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and announcements on the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Baidu does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of the press release, and Baidu undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Baidu’s consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, Baidu uses the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Baidu, non-GAAP net margin, non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Baidu believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of its recurring core business operating results, such as operating performance excluding non-cash charges or non-operating in nature. The Company believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to Baidu’s historical performance and liquidity. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP financial measures is that these non-GAAP measures exclude certain items that have been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant component in the Company’s results of operations. These non-GAAP financial measures presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measures differently, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures to the Company’s data.

Non-GAAP operating income represents operating income excluding share-based compensation expenses, and amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu represents net income attributable to Baidu excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations, disposal gain or loss, impairment of long-term investments, and fair value gain or loss of long-term investments and exchangeable bonds, adjusted for related income tax effects. Baidu’s share of equity method investments for these non-GAAP reconciling items, amortization and impairment of intangible assets not on the investees’ books, accretion of their redeemable non-controlling interests, and the gain or loss associated with the issuance of shares by the investees at a price higher or lower than the carrying value per share, adjusted for related income tax effects, are also excluded.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS represents diluted earnings per ADS calculated by dividing non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu, by the weighted average number of ordinary shares expressed in ADS. Adjusted EBITDA represents operating income excluding depreciation, amortization and impairment of intangible assets resulting from business combinations, and share-based compensation expenses.

For more information on non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned “Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measure.”