Sohu revenue surpasses expectations
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Sohu.com Inc reported higher-than-expected revenue in the second quarter as advertising income benefited from events like World Expo Shanghai and the World Cup.
Profit of Sohu, one of the country's leading Internet portals and online game operators, rose 7 percent year on year to US$52.5 million, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Total revenue during the period jumped 15 percent from the same period last year to US$146.1 million, beating its guidance of US$139 million to US$144 million.
"The World Expo and World Cup clearly drove the strong performance in online advertising," said Belinda Wang, co-president and COO of Sohu.
"We continue to focus on online video and are convinced this will account for significant growth in the future," Chairman and CEO Charles Zhang said in the statement.
Brand advertising revenue jumped 22 percent year on year and 35 percent quarter over quarter to US$53.2 million.
Although China is home to 420 million Internet users, the world's biggest online population, the online gaming market in the country shrank 1.8 percent to 7.34 billion yuan (US$1.08 billion) in the second quarter from the previous three months as fierce competition forced game operators to cut costs, said iResearch Inc.
Sohu competes with NetEase, Shanda Online and Tencent.
Online game revenue jumped 17 percent year on year, contributing US$77.7 million to total revenue.
The number of active players of its online games increased 17 percent from a year ago to 2.79 million.
The company estimated third-quarter revenue between US$153 million and US$158 million.
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