Sohu.com Inc (搜狐), operator of China’s fourth most-visited Web portal, posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates after the company increased online advertising sales.
Net income was US$33.45 million, or US$0.82 a share, little changed from US$33.53 million, or US$0.79, a year earlier, Sohu said in a statement today.
The Beijing-based company was expected to post profit of US$32.2 million, based on the average of 11 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Sohu last year spun off online games unit ChangYou.com Ltd (暢遊) to focus on selling advertising to companies in the world’s biggest Internet market by users.
Sohu chairman Charles Zhang (張朝陽) is boosting spending to develop Sohu’s search engine, Sogou (搜狗), after Google Inc moved its Chinese service offshore amid a standoff with local regulators on Web censorship.
Sales increased 15 percent to US$146.1 million, Sohu said. Revenue from Internet advertising rose 26 percent to US$57.1 million, while online game sales gained 17 percent to US$77.7 million.
Third-quarter revenue will range from US$153 million to US$158 million, Sohu said.
The company is expected to post sales of US$155.2 million for the period, the average of 12 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Sohu shares rose 2.4 percent to US$45.04 on the NASDAQ exchange on Friday. The stock has declined 21 percent this year, compared with a 7.5 percent drop in shares of rival Chinese portal Sina Corp (新浪公司).
Sogou accounted for 1.1 percent of China’s paid-search market last year, making it the country’s third-biggest behind Baidu Inc (百度) and Google, according to research company iResearch (艾瑞).
Sohu is China’s fourth most-visited portal behind Baidu, Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊控股有限公司) and Sina, according to China Web sites Ranking, a site run by the Internet Society of China that compiles Web traffic information.
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