Baidu profit up 80 percent, forecasts more growth [old.news.yahoo.com]

Baidu Inc., which operates China's most popular search engine, said Friday its latest quarterly profit jumped 80 percent as strong growth in usage of its site helped to drive advertising revenue higher.

Profit for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $295 million, or 84 cents per share, the Beijing-based company said. Revenue rose 85.1 percent to $654.7 million.

The company cited strong growth in user traffic and spending by advertising customers.