Tencent CEO Denies Rumors of Search Market Exit
West China Metropolis Daily, 5/25/12
Pony Ma, chairman and CEO of Shenzhen-based internet company Tencent (0700.HK), has denied rumors that Tencent will exit the PC search engine market after corporate restructuring, stating that Tencent is spinning off its Soso search business which will achieve commercialization by focusing on mobile internet.
"There isn't a so-called "PC search market," said Ma. "While mobile search has some unique characteristics, it is mostly identical to PC-based search. In the future, most terminals will have mobile capabilities, and PCs are one kind of terminal. Soso's core ability is to funnel traffic to all of Tencent's key platforms to support its various businesses, and it plans to commercialize search by means of mobile internet, which will also cover PCs."
Editor's Note: According to Sohu IT, Soso's offline maps platform, search marketing, search development, and search ad management platform departments will be folded into Tencent's mobile internet division, while the Soso platform, R&D and operations, core architecture, and search testing departments will become part of Tencent's technology division. For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: Tencent to Merge Soso, Wireless Divisions," MD 5/15/12 and "Tencent Restructures into Six Businesses Groups," MD 5/18/12 issues.
Keywords: Pony Ma corporate restructuring Internet wireless Soso Tencent mobile search 0700.HK search advertising spin-off online search