(Yicai Global) Aug. 15 -- Chinese software developer NetEase has surpassed search engine giant Baidu as China's fifth-biggest internet company in terms of market cap.

The share price of NetEase [NASDAQ: NTES] rose 0.5 percent to USD262.10 yesterday, with a market capitalization of USD33.5 billion amid a 3 percent decline among three major US stock indexes.

NetEase increased its net profit by 45.8 percent to CNY3.1 billion (USD440.8 million) on a strong performance in the fields of games, music and e-commerce during the second-quarter, the Guangzhou-based company said in its earnings report published on Aug. 8. Its revenue rose 15.3 percent to CNY18.8 billion.

On Aug. 13, NetEase's stock price jumped nearly 11 percent after Chinese media outlets reported that Alibaba is in talks with NetEase to take a stake worth several billions of US dollars in the latter's e-commerce platform Kaola. The parties have not confirmed the reports.

Baidu's [NASDAQ: BIDU] stock price dropped 2.6 percent to close at USD94.90 yesterday on a market cap of USD33.2 billion. In the first quarter, the Beijing-based firm reported its a first loss (USD49 million) since going public in 2005. It will release its second-quarter earnings on Aug. 19.

As of this morning, the biggest Chinese public firm was Alibaba Group Holding [NYSE:BABA] with its USD421.9 billion worth of outstanding shares. WeChat-owner Tencent Holdings [HK: 0700] came in second with USD414.1 billion. E-commerce firm JD.Com [NASDAQ: JD] claimed third place with USD49.7 billion and Meituan-Dianping [HK: 3690] had USD47 billion.

In terms of competitiveness, Baidu is still China's third-best internet company, according to a ranking that the Internet Society of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released yesterday. They compared firms according to six factors, including profitability, innovation and social responsibility. NetEase lost its fifth position to fintech unicorn Ant Financial to rank sixth.

Editor: Emmi Laine