Baidu search engine takes financial hit after scandal

Et tu, Baidu? The Chinese search engine showed both profit and growth during its recent fourth quarter, but it didn't meet analyst estimates. The company's struggling not only with the rough economy but with a fracas over preferential placement given to paid search results.

Baidu's numbers were hardly dismal; the firm reported year-to-year growth of 36% and profits of around 31%. Still, that's as low as it's been since that country was listed in 2005, and both Q4 profits and Q1 estimates are down -- in fourth quarter, a noticeable 6.8% lower than analysts had estimated, at 288.7 million yuan.

The search site found itself with its shorts on fire in November after a report in China's media that the company was putting paid search results above actual search results, results in various cases of Net users ending up in the hands of unlicensed medical practitioners. The company apologized, pulled the offending links and has since set forth on a promotional (read: image-rebuilding) campaign.