Baidu shows strong growth

It's beginning to look like it might have the makings of a business which will come as a great relief to those who overpaid for its shares. Xinhua reports that Baidu, China's premier search site reported net profits totaling Rmb35.2 million ($4.4 million) in the first quarter, "13 times higher than the same period in 2005". The report goes on to say that the profit was also an increase of 43.5 percent from the previous quarter. Sales were up 18% at Rmb135mn.

It still looks mighty thin to me for a business with a NASDAQ market cap of $2.87 billion.