Sohu

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
Sohu was founded as Internet Technologies China (ITC) in 1996 by <a href="/facts/Charles_Zhang/SDUJdU9C">Charles Zhang</a> after he completed his <a href="/facts/Doctorate_of_Philosophy/paJumdN8">PhD</a> from the <a href="/facts/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology/Xk49vNA8">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> and received <a href="/facts/Venture_capital/yeH3m7zo">venture capital</a> funding from colleagues he met there.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> The following year, Zhang changed the name of ITC to Sohoo in homage to <a href="/facts/Yahoo!/nKhTaV3M">Yahoo!</a> after meeting its cofounder, <a href="/facts/Jerry_Yang/GPn0q7A5">Jerry Yang</a>; the name was soon after changed to Sohu to differentiate it from the American company.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> Sohu has been listed on NASDAQ since 2000 through a <a href="/facts/Variable_interest_entity/Jr8apLnm">variable interest entity (VIE)</a> based in <a href="/facts/Delaware/4n4I3Rhu">Delaware</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>
Sohu's <a href="/facts/Sogou.com/x6fwKxKf">Sogou.com</a> search engine was in talks to be sold in July 2013 to <a href="/facts/Qihoo/MM4UuhID">Qihoo</a> for around $1.4 billion.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> On September 17, 2013, it was announced that <a href="/facts/Tencent/88gpEqLy">Tencent</a> has invested $448 million for a minority share in Chinese search engine <a href="/facts/Sogou.com/x6fwKxKf">Sogou.com</a>, the subsidiary of Sohu, Inc.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a>
Sohu was ranked as the world's third- and twelfth-fastest growing company by Fortune in 2009 and 2010, respectively.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>

<h2 id="allegations-against-google">Allegations against Google</h2>
On April 6, 2007, Sohu made a request that <a href="/facts/Google/GT9Sugza">Google</a> stop providing its <a href="/facts/Google_Pinyin/tPUqm6SN">Google Pinyin</a> <a href="/facts/Input_Method_Editor/HoB832tg">Input Method Editor</a> software for download because portions of Sohu's IME software, <a href="/facts/Sogou_Pinyin/GsqfNKuB">Sogou Pinyin</a>, were allegedly copied in order to construct it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> The detection of the alleged copyright infringement was found due to a suspicious error found in both IMEs, notably the translation of the pinyin "pinggong" which erroneously produces the actor and comedian <a href="/facts/Feng_Gong/xPV7V62l">Feng Gong</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> On April 9, 2007, Google's spokesman Cui Jin has admitted that the pinyin Google IME "was built leveraging some non-Google database resources."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>

<h2 id="2008-olympic-games-website">2008 Olympic Games website</h2>
In November 2005, Sohu was selected to be the Official Internet Content Service Sponsor of the <a href="/facts/Beijing_2008_Olympic_Games/G6YvB62G">Beijing 2008 Olympic Games</a>. Sohu was provided exclusive services to construct, operate and host the official Beijing Olympics website.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.sohu.com">Official website</a> (in Chinese)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">"Contact Us." Sohu. Retrieved on December 27, 2010. "Headquarter Office Sohu.com Internet Plaza, No.1 Park, Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100084, PRC." <a href="http://corp.sohu.com/contact/" target="_blank">http://corp.sohu.com/contact/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">"Sohu.com." CNN Money. Retrieved on August 19, 2009. <a href="https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2009/snapshots/3.html" target="_blank">https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2009/snapshots/3.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Charles Zhang a Confident Man of Action". China.org.cn. Retrieved April 12, 2020. <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/74339.htm" target="_blank">http://www.china.org.cn/english/MATERIAL/74339.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Lee, Kai-Fu (September 25, 2018). AI Superpowers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 31. ISBN 9781328546395. <a href="9781328546395" target="_blank">9781328546395</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"Sohu.com Announces Stockholder Approval of Proposed Reorganization". CISION. Retrieved September 8, 2019. <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sohucom-announces-stockholder-approval-of-proposed-reorganization-300655614.html" target="_blank">https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sohucom-announces-stockholder-approval-of-proposed-reorganization-300655614.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Levisohn, Ben (March 6, 2013). "Sohu denied rumors of Nasdaq delisting". Barrons.com. <a href="http://blogs.barrons.com/emergingmarketsdaily/2013/03/06/sohu-denies-buyout-speculation-shares-plummet-8/" target="_blank">http://blogs.barrons.com/emergingmarketsdaily/2013/03/06/sohu-denies-buyout-speculation-shares-plummet-8/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions". Reuters. July 19, 2013. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/deals-day-idUSL4N0FP2EM20130719" target="_blank">https://www.reuters.com/article/deals-day-idUSL4N0FP2EM20130719</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Aitken, Todd (September 17, 2013). "Tencent invested $448 million in Chinese search engine Sogou". CEOWORLD Magazine. <a href="http://ceoworld.biz/2013/09/17/chinese-tencent-is-now-worth-almost-twice-as-much-as-baidu-close-to-facebook" target="_blank">http://ceoworld.biz/2013/09/17/chinese-tencent-is-now-worth-almost-twice-as-much-as-baidu-close-to-facebook</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"The World's 3rd Fastest-Growing Company In 2009". Fortune magazine. <a href="https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2009/snapshots/3.html" target="_blank">https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2009/snapshots/3.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"The World's 12th Fastest-Growing Company In 2010". Fortune magazine. <a href="https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2010/snapshots/12.html" target="_blank">https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortunefastestgrowing/2010/snapshots/12.html</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Lemon, Sumner (April 8, 2007). "Rival Asks Google to Yank 'Copycat' Application". PC World. IDG. Retrieved April 11, 2007. <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130497-c,google/article.html" target="_blank">https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130497-c,google/article.html</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Lemon, Sumner (April 6, 2007). "Google Evades Question About Software Similarities". PC World. IDG. Retrieved April 11, 2007. <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130459-c,techindustrytrends/article.html" target="_blank">https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130459-c,techindustrytrends/article.html</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Lemon, Sumner (April 9, 2007). "Google Admits Using Outside Source for Chinese App". PC World. IDG. Retrieved April 11, 2007. <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130502-c,copyright/article.html" target="_blank">https://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130502-c,copyright/article.html</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">"Sohu.com to run website for Beijing 2008 Olympic games". ChinaTechNews.com. Retrieved November 7, 2005. <a href="https://www.chinatechnews.com/2005/11/07/3114-sohucom-to-run-website-for-beijing-2008-olympic-games/" target="_blank">https://www.chinatechnews.com/2005/11/07/3114-sohucom-to-run-website-for-beijing-2008-olympic-games/</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Sohu open-in-new

Sohu