Baidu quarterly profit rises more than 70 percent

LOS ANGELES, April 24 (Reuters) - Baidu.com Inc (BIDU.O), China's top search engine, said on Thursday its first-quarter profit rose more than 70 percent from the year earlier, buoyed by strong traffic growth and online advertising revenue ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Beijing-based Baidu said its first-quarter profit was 146.6 million yuan ($20.9 million) for the three months ended March 31.

The company's corresponding earnings per share were 60 cents for the most recent quarter.

Comparable year-ago figures were not immediately available. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein and Sophie Taylor)