Following Completion of Merger With Tencent, Wang Xiaochuan Steps Down as Sogou CEO
Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan released an internal email today, saying that “from today, Sogou will be integrated into Tencent, and I will officially step down as Sogou CEO.” Wang will accept the invitation sent by Tencent COO Ren Yuxin on behalf of the company and be employed as a consultant of Tencent.
Starting from today, all members of Sogou will join Tencent, and their salary and benefits will become aligned with Tencent‘s working system. The product and technology departments have also been merged into several related business units of Tencent in an orderly manner.
Sogou is a provider of search, input method, browser and other Internet products and services. In 2003, Wang Xiaochuan, the senior manager of Sohu at that time, set up Sohu R&D Center and began to develop search engines. In August 2004, Sohu launched the third generation interactive Chinese search engine – Sogou Search. In August 2010, Sohu strategically reorganized Sogou and introduced Alibaba as a strategic investor. After that, Sogou was split up as an independent company. In August, 2010, Wang Xiaochuan became Sogou’s CEO. In November, 2017, Sogou was listed on the NYSE.
On September 24, Sogou announced its merger with domestic tech giant Tencent. Sohu will receive $1.18 billion after the transaction, and will no longer retain any rights and interests in Sogou.
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According to Wang’s letter, after 383 days of adjustment since Tencent issued the initial acquisition invitation, Sogou’s teams have been basically in place. After becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent, Sogou’s original browsers, reading and other products will be merged with similar products of Platform and Content Group within Tencent. However, its search and input method services will be operated under the original brand.
Regarding future career planning, Wang said: “In the next two decades, if I can contribute to the development of life science and medicine, my life will be more meaningful.”
