Sohu So Far So Good
By Azam on July 28, 2008 
Sohu has put up some impressive numbers. Not too surprising is the fact that the company is the official online advertising company for the Beijing Olympics. Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) released second quarter earnings before market open on Mon July 28, 2008. Second quarter revenue hit $102 million, up 162% year-on-year and 20% quarter-on-quarter, while net income reached $40.2 million, an increase of 604% year-on-year and 86% quarter-on-quarter. Also, Sohu announced the spinoff of Changyou.com Ltd. though an IPO offering the company intends to file for through SEC. Recently, the number of internet users in China has reached 234M surpassing the US as the largest number of users for any country.
Breaking down the numbers
Sohu’s total advertising revenue was $43.4 million, up 53% year-on-year and 25% quarter-on-quarter. Advertising revenue consisted of $41.7 million in brand advertising and $1.7 million in sponsored search. Non-advertising revenues, which include online games and wireless value-added services, were $58.6 million. Online game revenues were up 17% quarter-on-quarter and 11.5 times from the year-ago period to $47.9 million. Revenue for Sohu’s in-house developed MMORPG “Tian Long Ba Bu” (TLBB) reached an impressive $45.5 million, up 17% sequentially.
The Company projections for the 3rd quarter, will come in the range between $112 million and $116 million, with advertising revenues of $48.5 million to $50.5 million and online game revenue of between $51.5 million and $53.5 million.
Categories : China“The growing momentum reflects the overall expansion of the China Internet market, increased shift in advertising budgets from offline to online, the robust pace of advertising spending leading up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, as well as our significant traffic increase,” Belinda Wang, chief marketing officer of Sohu said in a statement.
Tags : , Beijing Olympics, Changyou.com Ltd, China, IPO, Online Advertising, Sohu, Tian Long Ba Bu