Baidu.com, the web search engine dubbed by some as the ‘Chinese Google’, has reported a five-fold leap in quarterly net profits thanks to new users and online advertising customers. US giant Google actually sold its small interest in Baidu last year, offloading its strategic stake in order to focus on its own Chinese business.

Baidu, which commands more than 60 per cent of the Chinese market, made 122.8 million yuan (about £8 million) in the final three months of 2006, up from 24.5 million yuan (£1.6 million) a year earlier, and taking net profits for the year as a whole to north of 301.8 million yuan (£20 million). The board reported a 5.9 per cent rise in the number of advertisers compared with the previous quarter to 108,000.

Baidu has already flagged its logical expansion into the Japanese market, where its strength in non-English language searches, as well as similarities between Chinese and Japanese, should prove huge advantages.

Aside from the US, China is ranked number two in terms of internet market size, with more than 100 million users. Google and other foreign firms, however, have attracted barbed comments for their willingness to censor access to politically sensitive material in line with Chinese government demands.