Chinese internet search giant, Baidu, has reported a sharp jump in quarterly revenues for the final 3 months of 2015. A surge in demand for advertising at the company often described as “China’s Google” saw the amount of money the company earned to 18.7 billion yuan or US$2.86 billion.

The revenue print was a sharp increase on the same 3-month period last year when it came in at 14.05 billion yuan.

“Baidu has been committing resources to a sustained bid to diversify away from its core business, internet search advertising which is not as profitable on mobile devices as it is on desktops and laptops,” said Harry Coolidge, a senior economist at Mizuho Corporate Global. “They’re getting into video streaming, e-commerce, cloud storage and music downloads as well as others in the pipeline but search is still their bread and butter,” he continued.

After the earnings report, Baidu’s stock jumped 12% to $177.10 in after-hours trading.

Mizuho Corporate Global says it sees the company’s diversification efforts as closely emulating those of Google, which famously quit the Chinese market over censorship of internet search results.

“Baidu has over 70% of the internet search market in a country of 1.3 billion people, most of whom prefer mobile devices over personal computers, so it makes a great deal of sense that they should invest in areas most likely to build revenue on those user dynamics,” said Coolidge.

The firm says it sees Baidu as a key hold in its Asian markets portfolio despite the headwinds the Chinese economy currently faces.

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