Baidu.com, the most popular Chinese search engine, said its second quarter revenue and profits more than doubled compared to the same period in 2006, although its growth rate is expected to slow down.

This Wednesday, Baidu announced its second quarter revenue achieved 401.3 million renminbi, representing a 109 percent growth, while net income grew 143 percent to 141.9 million renminbi. Both increases are obviously lower than last year, which indicates the Chinese Internet market and Baidu's business size are near maturity.

During the second quarter of 2006, Baidu's revenue rose by 175 percent, and its net income grew by 385 percent. In the second quarter of 2005, the company had tremendous growth in both revenue and net income, at 187 and 626 percent, respectively.

As Baidu's business grows, it is more difficult for executives to keep up with the big gains in the previous year. However, the company has said its future business growth will remain strong.

"During the second quarter, we saw robust revenue growth and a healthy increase in online marketing customers," Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.