Tencent Is about to Complete the Preliminary Integration of Sogou
According to a release from Jiemian News on Thursday, Tencent will complete the integration of Sogou, a Chinese Internet service provider, as early as August. As a result, most of Sogou’s business will be merged into Tencent PCG, while its main team will be merged with Tencent‘s highlights.
The current CEO Wang Xiaochuan will leave the company and start his own business after Sogou completes its overall delisting. Yin Yu, vice president of Tencent Group and head of Tencent highlights, will become the new leader of the Sogou team.
Sogou Inc. (SOGO) stock soared by more than 45% after the opening on July 28th, with an opening price of 8.39 US dollars/share and a closing price of 8.51 US dollars/share, up 48% for the day.
A source who participated in Tencent‘s negotiations for the acquisition of Sogou in 2020 said that Yin Yu was also present discussing how to deal with Sogou’s team and business.
At present, Sogou owns about 2000 employees in total. After Tencent announced its acquisition last year, about 400 to 500 employees of Sougou had left the company.
Most of Sogou’s business, including the searching engine and the browser, and its public line team will be merged into Tencent. Tencent‘s highlights has now a team of about 2,300 people. After incorporating the team of Sougou, Tencent‘s highlights will become the company’s second-largest business line within PCG besides OVB (Online Video Business Unit).
As Pandaily reported earlier, Tencent and Sogou signed a privatization agreement to take the Sogou company with a purchase price of 3.5 billion dollars in September last year. According to the deal, Sogou will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent after the transaction is completed. This reshuffling was originally scheduled to wrap up in the fourth quarter of 2020 but was delayed due to a lack of regulatory approval.
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On the 13th of this month, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation unconditionally allowed Tencent Holdings Co., Ltd. to acquire the equities of Sogou Inc., which will thus become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent. After the acquisition, it will also be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
