Chinese search engine Baidu says quarterly profit up 27 percent as mobile business grows

Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. says its latest quarterly profit rose 27 percent as its mobile operation passed its traditional desktop computer-based search business in user numbers.

The company said Thursday it earned 3.9 billion yuan ($631.5 million), or 11 yuan ($1.79) per share. Revenue rose 52 percent over a year earlier to 13.5 billion yuan ($2.2 billion).

The company said mobile traffic surpassed personal computer traffic and mobile contributed 36 percent of total revenue.