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 โincreased traffic and improved pricingโ, according to Sohu.
Sogou Pinyin, the flagship product of Sogouโs, 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 โseeking additional strategic minority investors, or pursuing a more comprehensive strategic combinationโ for Sogou. More recently, local media reported that Qihoo had finalized the acquisition.
The combined market share of Qihooโs and Sogouโs has amount to one fourth of Chinaโs 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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