Gold (Au) nanoparticles were introduced into thin films of layered cobaltites to decrease the sheet resistance and improve the transparent conducting performance of the films. c-axis-oriented Bi2Sr2Co2O8 thin films dispersed with Au particles with diameters of about 5-10 nm were obtained by pulsed laser ablation of a Bi2Sr2Co2O8 ceramic target on which a piece of fan-shaped Au foil was attached. The resulting Bi2Sr2Co2O8/Au composite thin films, with the Au concentration of about 1.6 at.%, showed a very low resistivity of about 3.0 m Omega cm at room temperature and a reasonable optical transmittance of about 48 % in the visible range, resulting in a high figure of merit of about 2270 M Omega(-1). This value is comparable to those reported for the state-of-the-art p-type transparent conducting oxides and is about 1.7-fold higher than that of the pure Bi2Sr2Co2O8 thin films.