Bottom line: Qihoo’s apparent attempt to unify its various products around the 360.com brand looks smart strategically, but it needs to improve its search and cellphone businesses to win back investor interest.
Qihoo pays record for 360.com domain
I’m not usually someone to write about publicity stunts, but one such new ploy by struggling security software maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) has piqued my interest as it hints at some major new strategic moves. The actual news is quite straightforward, saying Qihoo has paid a record $17 million for the 360.com web domain. This news was almost certainly leaked by Qihoo, since companies pay large sums for domains all the time and the news never makes big headlines since it is kept private. That hints that Qihoo may have big plans for 360.com, most likely as a platform to unify its current stable of domains and brands. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: UCWeb’s new India tie-up with Facebook looks like a good step that will help its global expansion, while Qihoo’s new Microsoft alliance looks mostly like inconsequential hype.
UCWeb ties with Facebook in India
A couple of new corporate tie-ups are in the headlines today, led by word of a potentially major new alliance between Alibaba-owned (NYSE: BABA) web browser UCWeb and global social networking giant Facebook (Nasdaq: FB). The other tie-up, which looks far less interesting but still potentially significant, and will see security software specialist Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) work with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in advertising services. This second alliance is just the latest in a long recent string for Qihoo, and seems aimed at breathing life into its struggling stock that is being rapidly abandoned by impatient and disappointed investors. Read Full Post…
Online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) has just become the first of China’s “big 3” Internet companies to release third quarter results, showing it’s not in any danger of losing its overwhelming share of China’s search advertising revenue anytime soon. Many media like to focus on the fact that Baidu has seen its dominance in China’s search market fall sharply over the last year, as newer rivals backed by Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) have collectively grown to take nearly half of the market by traffic volume. But while Baidu’s share of traffic may be sinking, it still holds the lion’s share of money that advertisers pay to search engines in China. Read Full Post…
Rising online search star Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) has reached a major milestone, winning 30 percent of China’s traffic for the first time just 2 years after the launch of its So.com search engine. Despite that huge achievement, Qihoo’s newly released quarterly results show it’s having a harder time monetizing its search business, which may partly explain why its shares are down 20 percent since a peak in the spring. From the perspective of an observer, these latest signs still look quite encouraging and might even prompt a Qihoo skeptic like myself to consider buying the company’s stock at its current price. Read Full Post…
Fast rising search operators Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and Sogou may be challenging sector heavyweight Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) in terms of market share, but they’re having far more difficulty finding an audience among advertisers that are the sector’s main revenue source. That’s my main conclusion after seeing the latest data for all 3 companies, which show Qihoo and Sogou making steady gains in terms of search traffic but failing to translate those gains into meaningful revenue. Read Full Post…
Search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) may be rapidly yielding market share to 2 up-and-coming rivals, even as its latest results show it’s still king of the hill when it comes to getting revenue from online advertisers. But the company is still searching for new innovation, with word that charismatic Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun came to speak at an internal event this week as Baidu seeks to rekindle its own “wolf spirit”. Baidu’s quest to become more diversified and has moved into high gear with a spree of major acquisitions over the last year in a wide range of areas. Still, its latest results, while impressive, show just how heavily dependent the company remains on online advertisers. Read Full Post…
We’re getting a better picture of the latest online advertising trends with the recent release of earnings from 3 leading web portals, revealing a looming slowdown for names like Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) and Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG). Sina and Sohu could offset the slowdown through growth in their newer businesses, which includes Sina’s Weibo microblogging service and Sohu’s search and video services. But everyone could also face more challenges from newcomers like Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), which is under intense pressure to start monetizing its highly-hyped and fast growing So.com search service. Read Full Post…
Online search aspirant Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) is back in the headlines, this time by boosting its targets as it gains ground on market leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). At the same time, the company is also watching its flank, launching a new war of words against a new potential rival from the newly formed combination of Sohu’s (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou search engine and Tencent’s (HKEx: 700) Soso. From a tactical standpoint, this kind of attack on current and future rivals probably looks like a smart move. But from a more practical standpoint, these kinds of assaults are unlikely to have any real effect on Qihoo’s search business; instead such acts of aggression give off a signal of slight desperation as Qihoo tries to justify the recent run-up in its share price resulting from hype about its year-old So.com search engine. Read Full Post…
When is the merger of search sites operated by 2 major media and a top telco not a very big news story? The answer: When all 3 of those companies are big state-run behemoths that have a poor track record for innovation in the fast-moving Internet world. That’s my personal assessment on reading news that Panguso and Jike, the respective online search sites of the Xinhua news agency and People’s Daily newspaper, have merged their operations to form a new company. (English article) In addition to its Xinhua backing, Panguso counts dominant mobile carrier China Mobile (HKEx: 941; NYSE: CHL) as its other major stakeholder. 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…
The ongoing game of musical chairs in China’s online search space is continuing this week with word that Internet portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) wants to sell its Sogou unit, operator of China’s third largest search engine. While many of the previous rumors of consolidation in the search space have looked dubious to me, this one actually looks like it could be credible for a number of reasons I’ll detail shortly. If it’s true, I would also commend Sohu for making a shrewd move by getting out of a crowded market where it has limited resources and expertise compared with other players. Read Full Post…
