DAILY Thursday, January 3, 2019 | 17 BUSINESS Moutai toasts healthy growth Baidu banking on -maker tech for further gains optimistic on By FAN FEIFEI hit 28.2 billion yuan in the third sector stability [email protected] quarter, increasing 27 percent amid consumption year-on-year. Chinese internet search giant “Feed revenue has been a upgrade trend Baidu Inc has reported revenues bright spot in driving Baidu’s exceeding 100 billion yuan revenue growth due to robust By ZHU WENQIAN in Beijing ($14.6 billion) for last year, user traffic growth, as well as and YANG JUN in marking a milestone for the strong traction with Baidu’s vid- company’s efforts to accelerate eo offerings,” Li said. Co Ltd, China’s its business growth, and make On the AI side, the company’s signature high-end spirit maker, has breakthroughs and innovations, DuerOS conversational system reported booming profit growth in said Robin Li, chairman and continues to see strong adoption, 2018, and a robust growth plan for CEO of Baidu, in an internal let- with voice queries surpassing 800 2019. ter on Wednesday. million in September 2018. Its fully Last year, Moutai, a distiller from “The achievement and progress autonomous Apolong minibuses town in Southwest China’s we have made in 2018 is constant- powered by the Apollo autono- province, achieved whole- ly strengthening the confidence mous driving platform have run year sales revenue of 75 billion yuan of our users and public awareness services in over 10 locations. ($10.9 billion), up 23 percent year- of Baidu, a company that can on-year. make good products and is In the same period, its profit favored by users, has come back,” 28.2 exceeded its annual growth plan, said Li on the first workday of totaling 34 billion yuan, jumping 25 2019. billion yuan percent over the previous year, Li said in the letter that arti- revenue of Baidu in according to a company statement ficial intelligence is accelerat- the third quarter of 2018 released on Wednesday. ing its penetration into all In 2018, the company produced Workers attach red Moutai ribbons to liquor products on the production line of a Kweichow Moutai fac- aspects of life in 2019, creating 49,700 metric tons of Moutai tory in , Guizhou province. YANG JUN / CHINA DAILY huge development opportuni- The company said it saw strong liquor, and 20,500 tons of Moutai ties and space for upgrading. traffic and revenue growth from series wine, the statement said. In Looking ahead, Baidu should its Baidu App feed business, and 2017, it produced 42,700 tons of establish a more comprehensive Moutai’s rivals province- fulfill its mission and have the is replicating this formula to Moutai liquor. sales system, and introduce more based Yibin Co Ltd and courage to take on responsibili- develop other feed apps, such as “This year, we aim to achieve sales distinctive and tailored services for Laojiao Group, in addition ties, he added. Haokan, its short-video app. revenue of 100 billion yuan, growing its member customers. to Anhui province-based Gujing This year, we aim to “Because of our leading invest- “Baidu hopes to strengthen its 14 percent, and reach a net profit of “This year, the pace of price rises Group, among others, saw their achieve sales revenue ment in the application of AI and existing technology and search 45 billion yuan. Our good perform- in the high-end liquor sector is shares fall in Wednesday’s trading. other cutting-edge technologies, advantages, on the basis of which ance last year indicates that the expected to slow, and the sector is Investment bank BOC Interna- of 100 billion yuan, we have the confidence and cour- the company can accelerate the growing power of Moutai is strong expected to maintain a moderate tional (China) Co Ltd said that growing 14 percent, age to grasp the era that others do monetization of its mobile termi- enough to drive further gains,” said growth rate by maintaining stable from 2019 to 2020, despite slower not have,” said Li, emphasizing nal services,” said Dong Xu, senior Li Baofang, chairman of Moutai. prices and continually increasing overall growth after more rapid and reach a net profit that Baidu is in a critical period of analyst at Beijing-based market “We will continue to expand the sales volumes,” said Minsheng Secu- growth previously, market of 45 billion yuan. Our industry development and will research company Analysys. capacity of Moutai liquor and series rities in a research report. demand for liquor products will step up efforts in research and Dong added that speeding up wines, raise the proportion of direct Shanghai-listed Moutai edged up remain robust, fueled by the ongo- good performance development. its internationalization efforts in sales, and upgrade our product 8.97 yuan per share to close 1.52 per- ing consumption upgrade trend in last year indicates Li also noted that Baidu’s search business and investment will also structures. The company will cent higher in Wednesday’s trading, the country. business, self-driving technology, become an important goal for endeavor to maintain the prices at a while the index and liquor sector A 500-milliliter bottle of Moutai’s that the growing intelligent home system, and vid- Baidu in the new era. stable level,” he said. saw lukewarm performances over- classic Feitian 53 percent liquor that power of Moutai is eo offerings achieved significant In November, Baidu Last week, Moutai said at its all. left the factory in 2015 now carries a growth last year. announced it will launch cars meeting with nationwide dealers The company’s valuation now price tag of 2,388 yuan on online strong enough to The Nasdaq-listed firm deliv- with Level 4 autonomous capabil- that the company will not raise the stands at 752 billion yuan. Earlier, shopping platform JD. drive further gains.” ered a solid third-quarter finan- ities in 2019 in a partnership with prices of Moutai liquor and its it became the first consumer cial performance, with impressive Hongqi, a homegrown brand that series wines this year, and even in stock with a market value exceed- Contact the writers at Li Baofang, chairman of Moutai results from its search, feed and is a subsidiary of automaker FAW the next few years. It also plans to ing 1 trillion yuan. [email protected] new AI businesses. Total revenue Group.