Sohu reported the earnings for Q213 today. Sogou, majority-owned by Sohu, recorded $50 million in revenue, up 64% year-over-year and 27% quarter-over-quarter, in this quarter. Search, browser start-up page ads and related services contributed $46 million, up 61% year-over-year and 28% quarter-over-quarter. Increases were driven by “increased traffic and improved pricing”, according to Sohu.
Sogou Pinyin, the flagship product of Sogou’s, added 60% more users of the mobile version since the beginning of 2013. The total monthly active users have reached 150 million.
Qihoo acknowledged that it was in talks with Sohu on potential acquisition of Sogou. Sohu also confirmed that was “seeking additional strategic minority investors, or pursuing a more comprehensive strategic combination” for Sogou. More recently, local media reported that Qihoo had finalized the acquisition.
The combined market share of Qihoo’s and Sogou’s has amount to one fourth of China’s search market. And both have been growing steadily in revenues generated from paid search, ads on the browser start-up page and revenue shares from online games.
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