Profits of People.cn Co. Ltd., the official website of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, increased 101 percent year on year to 64.91 million yuan ($10.22 million) in the first half of 2012, according to its semiannual report posted on the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 21.

Online sales revenue increased 38.1 percent to 292 million yuan ($46 million). Earnings per share grew to 0.28 yuan from 0.16 yuan last year.

The report attributed the company's profit surge to its improving market presence, expanding business scale and increasing number of users.

People.cn attracted a great deal of market attention when it started trading on April 27, making the first-ever listing of a state-owned media website. People.cn Co. Ltd. went public in order to better compete with commercial websites such as Sina.com and Sohu.com.