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Tencent has officially acquired search engine and top keyboard app provider Sogou

October 15, 2021 1:31 pm

Sogou, a Chinese search company and subsidiary of Sohu, has officially been acquired by Tencent, according to an internal letter by Sogou's CEO Wang Xiaochuan.

In the letter, Wang announced his reassignment from the position, and that the company will "move towards the brand new, while mountains and seas are bound to the destinations."

The letter said after 383 days of adjustment since receiving the acquisition invitation, the company's businesses and teams are now well-prepared. In the future, Sogou's search engine, input method, browser, and other products will be operated under the brand of Sogou, and its search and AI technologies will empower Tencent's businesses.

Sogou announced last July that the board had received a letter from Tencent, which was seeking to acquire all of its shares at $9 a share.

Sogou's stock price at that time sat at $8.61. The deal could value the company at about $3.5 billion, making Sogou actually three times as valuable as Sohu.

Last month, Sogou announced that it had completed its merger with Tencent at a price of $3.5 billion. After the transaction, Sogou became an indirect subsidiary of Tencent, absorbed into corresponding departments that are part of Tencent's Platform and Content Group.

The acquisition deal was once reviewed by Chinese regulators but in July, China's antitrust regulator State Administration for Market Regulation granted Tencent "unconditional approval" to buy out US-listed Sogou.