ReutersNov 17, 2020 04:15:16 IST
(Reuters) - China's Baidu Inc reported third-quarter revenue above market expectations on Monday and said it would buy JOYY Inc's video-based live streaming business in China for about $3.6 billion (£2.8 billion), sending its shares up marginally after the bell.
The quarter benefited from higher paid subscribers on Baidu's video streaming service iQIYI and a recovery in ad spending by businesses on its core search engine platform.
As China's economy gradually emerges out of the COVID-19 slump, ad spending by businesses have also picked up from their lows during the peak of the pandemic. In September, China's industrial output rose https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-activity-idUSKBN27W0BB faster than expected and retail sales gained.
Subscribers for iQIYI reached 104.8 million in September and membership revenue rose 7%, from a year earlier, as the pandemic strengthened the consumer shift to streaming platforms from cable or satellite TV.
The company's total revenue rose 1% to 28.23 billion yuan (£3.25 billion) in the quarter ended Sept.30. Analysts on average had expected revenue of 27.45 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shailesh Kuber)
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