Baidu’s Third Straight Revenue Drop Shows China’s Search Giant Is Fading Fast

Being first doesn’t mean staying first, just ask BaiduBIDU

. Despite narrowly beating analysts’ expectations, the Chinese search leader plunged 5.7% Thursday after posting its third straight quarter of shrinking revenue. With its “cash cow” ad business under assault, the weak performance spooked investors, as Baidu’s AI push failed to keep pace with rivals.

• BIDU
  ’s Q4 adjusted operating profit collapsed 41% year-over-year — directionally joined by revenue, which slid 4% to $4.8B (vs. $4.77B expected).
• Earnie, Baidu’s first-mover chatbot, now trails AlibabaBABA
  , TencentTCEHY
  , and DeepSeek — while its traditional search app bleeds young users to Xiaohongshu.

Still searching: Amid the setbacks, the company is hedging its bets elsewhere. Cloud is a rare bright spot, outpacing other segments, while robotaxi operations expand into the Middle East, Europe, and South Korea. Notably, its KunlunXin chip unit is also preparing for a Hong Kong IPO amid investor demand for a homegrown NvidiaNVDA

. Still, Bloomberg expects Baidu’s ventures to continue bleeding money for at least three years — a timeline that makes being “first” feel like a distant memory.