China's leading search engine Baidu: 3Q profit more than doubles

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BEIJING (AP) -- Baidu Inc., which operates China's leading search engine, said Friday its third-quarter net profit more than doubled and revenue jumped 76 percent as online advertising surged.

The Beijing-based company said it earned 1.05 billion yuan ($156.4 million), or 3.01 yuan (45 cents), per American Depositary share, versus 492.9 million yuan, or 1.41 yuan per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to 2.26 billion yuan ($337.2 million). Analysts expected $333.6 million.

Baidu has gained market share following Google Inc.'s decision to close its China-based search engine in March but most of its revenue gain appeared to come from the market's rapid growth rather than expanded share.