Rumored Acquisition May Put Baidu on Defensive

July 24, 2013

Now this is an interesting development. Search Engine Watch‘s Jennifer Slegg points to a rumor about China’s massive search engine market in, “Chinese Search Engine Qihoo to Buy Sogou for $1.4 Billion.” She writes:

“The Chinese search engine space just got a lot more interesting with Qihoo 360 reportedly purchasing Sohu’s Sogou search engine.

“If the report from DoNews (via The Next Web) is accurate, this deal will effectively combine the second and third largest search engines in China, which could have a significant impact on Baidu’s huge market share. . . .

“Qihoo 360 launched its own search engine in August of last year, and is second only to Baidu in terms of market share in China. Purchasing Sogou would mean the company would have nearly 25 percent of the search market share compared to Baidu’s eroding market share, which is now slightly under 70 percent.”

Is Baidu worried? Qihoo 360 launched its own engine just last year, and acquisition of the popular Sohu would mean a merger of China’s second- and third-largest search engines. Some expect the deal, rumored to be in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion, will soon be officially announced.

Cynthia Murrell, July 24, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Acquisition, News, Search

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.