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Tencent buys Sogou – one of China’s largest search engines

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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
20 Juli 2021
After fining the company for antitrust practices, the State Administration for Market Regulation has granted the “unconditional approval” for a purchase

China’s antitrust watchdog approved Tencent Holdings’ request to buy out US-listed search engine Sogou. The grant came days after the SAMR blocked the merger of Huya and Douyu International Holdings – the country’s two most significant video game live-streaming platforms. As Tencent is the controlling shareholder of Huya and owns more than a third of Douyu, the SAMR considered that the merger could have strengthened the company’s dominant position in the game streaming market.

The deal between Tencent and Sogou was initially announced in September 2020, when the first was looking to buy the 60% of the latter that it did not already own, making it the latest Chinese company to leave the US markets amid tensions between the countries. Tencent has been Sogou’s largest shareholder since 2013. At that time, it merged the search engine with its own Soso search.

After the news hit the wires, Tencent stock price climbed 3.9%.

Read here more about Tencent’s latest fine!

Sources: Bloomberg.com, scmp.com

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Miguel A. Rodriguez
Miguel A. Rodriguez
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Miguel worked for major financial institutions such as Banco Santander, and Banco Central-Hispano. He is a published author of currency trading books.