Bottom line: Sohu founder Charles Zhang should privatize his company in the next year and then sell off the pieces, or risk see his dwindling empire slowly become worthless.
Sohu’s incredible shrinking empire
You know you’re a CEO when you can call results like those just released by Internet company Sohu(Nasdaq: SOHU) “solid”. Of course that’s my sarcastic assessment, after reading the latest quarterly report that absolutely nothing upbeat about it from one of China’s oldest Internet companies. Nearly all of the numbers in Sohu’s latest report were down, with the lone exception of its online search business, whose anemic growth shouldn’t excite anyone.
Also down was Sohu’s stock, which slumped 6.4 percent after the results came out and is rapidly approaching lows not seen for nearly a decade. All that brings us to my assertion that perhaps it’s time for founder Charles Zhang to consider the unthinkable and break up his company and sell of the various pieces while there are still potential buyers. If he waits too much longer, those pieces will continue to diminish in value to the point where nobody wants them. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Sogou is unlikely to make an IPO this year, despite new talk of potential for such a plan from its CEO, and may ultimately never list due to its lackluster performance.
Sogou floats another IPO plan
Online search engine Sogou is testing the market yet again for a potential IPO, hoping to spin a story of opportunity to grab market share from scandal-tainted industry leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). That story may sound attractive to investors unfamiliar with this perennial number-three in China’s search market, whose main shareholders are web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and Internet titan Tencent (HKEx: 700).
The only problem is that Sogou’s credibility is nearly nil these days, a direct result of the equally low credibility of controlling shareholder Sohu, which seizes on any opportunity to talk up IPOs for its various units. Accordingly, I will quite definitively go on the record saying this particular IPO won’t happen this year, and possibly not ever, regardless of what anyone at Sohu or Sogou says. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Sohu may be forced to separately sell off its portal, video, search and gaming units over the next 1-2 years, or risk seeing them gradually fall in value as the company’s losses mount.
Sohu plunges after latest results
After running for years as a solid second-tier player, Internet veteran Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) is finally showing signs of running out of steam, based on its latest quarterly results and word of a major new loan to the company from its cash-rich but fading Changyou (Nasdaq: CYOU) gaming unit. This kind of turn isn’t all that surprising, since status as a second-tier player should only be temporary and such companies should either aspire to top-tier positions or sell themselves to rivals to ensure their longer term survival.
But Sohu has defied such pressures, largely due to the fiercely independent nature of its founder Charles Zhang, who is both quite shrewd but also famously averse to giving control of his empire to others. These latest results show that Zhang may soon have no choice but to sell some or all of his company, or risk seeing it slowly relegated to oblivion due to pressure from better-run rivals. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: A new China Life bid for iKang could trump Yunfeng, while 21Vianet could be mounting a stealth privatization bid that would see it slowly sell most of its shares to big buyers before mounting a formal de-listing attempt.
China Life eyeing bid for iKang?
A few strange twists are taking place in the story that has seen some 40 US-listed Chinese companies launch privatization bids since the start of last year, led by the surprise re-heating of a bidding war for private clinic operator iKang (iKang). In a separate headline, data center operator 21Vianet (Nasdaq: VNET) gave a new signal that it will abandon a previous buyout offer and may launch a stealth de-listing bid instead. And in the strangest development, the board of web portal operator Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) has rejected an investment plan by the company’s founder that looked like a prelude to a possible buyout offer at the time. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Sohu is likely to announce receipt of a formal buyout offer in the next few days, while the government in Yingli’s hometown of Baoding should seriously consider a similar buyout bid for the company.
Sohu gives mixed signals on buyout intentions
Amid the current privatization wave that is seeing dozens of Chinese companies launch plans to de-list their shares from New York, Internet industry stalwart Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) has announced its own offer that is leaving many people scratching their heads. After a day of looking for answers following Sohu’ss issue of its original announcement of plans for a $600 million investment, Chinese media are now reporting that the company has indeed received a privatization offer.
Meantime, fading solar panel maker Yingli (NYSE: YGE) is probably wishing it would receive its own privatization offer, as it piles up massive losses and its stock rapidly loses value. The company’s shares have been trading below the $1 level in New York since May, prompting the New York Stock Exchange to threaten de-listing for failing to meet its minimum price requirement. Now the company has just announced a reverse share split to bring its stock back above the $1 mark, sparking another sell-off in its shares. Read Full Post…
The microblogging realm has been buzzing with posts from tech executives this past week, many of whom were hyping their products at a major gadget show taking place in Las Vegas. But back in China, smartphone sensation Xiaomi was generating its own usual buzz with hints that it may try to go upscale and challenge Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930) more directly with a pricey new offering later this month.
Meantime, the microblogging realm also saw some unusual noise from 2 tech executives who have been mostly quiet in the space for more than a year. The loudest noise came from Charles Zhang, founder of web stalwart Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU), whose microblog on Sina Weibo (Nasdaq: WB) suddenly came to life as he moved to deflect rumors about massive layoffs at his company. Meantime, Chinese Internet patriarch Lee Kai-fu also made a rare tech-related post on his microblog, breaking a prolonged period of relative silence since he returned to his native Taiwan for treatment of cancer. Read Full Post…
China Internet titans should consider stepping down
Web portal Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU) was in the headlines last week as founder and longtime chief executive Charles Zhang discussed a major restructuring for one of China’s oldest Internet companies to ensure its long-term survival. (Chinese article) His disclosure put Sohu alongside most of China’s other major Internet companies in announcing such plans, as each seeks to chart a new course in a rapidly changing environment. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 12-14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Jumei.com Files For New York IPO To Raise Up to $400 Mln (Chinese article)
Sina (Nasdaq: SINA) Announces up to $500 Mln Share Repurchase Program (PRNewswire)
AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP) Agrees to Be Acquired by Alibaba (English article)
Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) CEO Zhang Prepares For Change, Eyes Common Netizens (Chinese article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Updates Q1 2014 Guidance (PRNewswire)
Just a half year after pooling their online search assets, leading web firm Tencent (HKEx: 700) and the much smaller Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) are reportedly in talks to also merge their video businesses amid a broader wave of consolidation sweeping China’s Internet. I have some doubts about whether this new deal will happen for reasons I’ll explain shortly, though I’m far less skeptical now than I would have been at this time a year ago. If such a deal does happen, it could mark the latest step in what could become Tencent’s eventual acquisition of Sohu, one of China’s oldest Internet companies. Read Full Post…
Any semblance of harmony between Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou online search engine and spurned suitor Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) has quickly disappeared with a new series of lawsuits between the 2 sides for unfair competition and defamation. I’m not too surprised by this latest development, since Sohu and Qihoo are headed by 2 of China’s most opinionated and difficult Internet entrepreneurs, Charles Zhang and Zhou Hongyi. But I am somewhat surprised by how quickly relations have soured between these 2 companies, following Zhang’s decision last week to sell a strategic stake in Sogou to leading Internet firm Tencent (HKEx: 700). That decision, which came after months of talks, was a sharp rebuke to Qihoo, which had also been aggressively courting Zhang and Sogou. Read Full Post…
Two months after reports first emerged that web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) was looking to sell its Sogou search engine, it appears a sale may finally be imminent to security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU). If indeed the latest reports are true, the big winner from such a sale would be Qihoo, which would combine its own so.com search service with Sogou to create a major new player with a quarter of China’s search market. China tech watchers like myself will also be happy to see this story finally disappear from the headlines, following a non-stop string of mixed signals since early May from Sohu’s fickle and frustrated founder and Chairman Charles Zhang. Read Full Post…
