Baidu Inc., which operates China's most popular Internet search engine, said Thursday its unaudited net profit in the fourth quarter of 2008 soared 31.3 percent year-on-year to 288.7 million yuan (42.3 million U.S. dollars).

Total business revenue for the quarter increased 58 percent to 902.1 million yuan (132.2 million U.S. dollars), the Beijing-based company said in a statement.

Source: Xinhua