| BEIJING, CHINA, June 12, 2006 – Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:
SOHU), China's leading online media, search and mobile value-added services
company, announced today that the company has entered into a multi-year
advertising agreement with leading online retailer, Joyo.com
Under the contract, Sohu will place Joyo.com advertisements throughout
certain Sohu web sites. Customers that click through the Joyo advertisements
will be taken to the Joyo.com site. The launch date is June 20, 2006.
As Sohu has previously reported, it will discontinue its own e-commerce
platform of physical consumer goods on June 20, 2006. Additional terms
of the contract were not disclosed.
Originally launched as an online bookstore in 2000, Joyo.com now offers
customers hundreds of thousands of items in categories that include
books, music, movie, wireless and electronics, small home appliances,
toys and gifts, health and personal care, jewelry and watches, and mother/baby
products. Joyo.com also offers COD delivery to more than 180 Chinese
cities, and free shipping on qualifying orders over 99 RMB.
Dr. Charles Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Sohu.com, stated, "As we
continue to focus on growing our core advertising business, we believe
this agreement with Joyo is the right step towards leveraging our e-commerce
platform through China's leading online retailer, Joyo.com. Sohu's expertise
has always been in being a premier portal while Joyo's expertise is
in B2C e-commerce. Our agreement with Joyo is a very natural progression
of our overall business strategy to grow our online advertising revenues.
Sohu’s direction has been and will continue to be to provide innovative
products and differentiated content to the rapidly growing Chinese online
user community."
Mr. Hanhua Wang, President of Joyo.com, said, "Our agreement with
Sohu.com will help make it even easier for customers to discover the
hundreds of thousands of products we offer in more than 12 categories,
as well as the many convenient features designed to make shopping at
Joyo a pleasure."
About Sohu.com
Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU) is China's premier online brand and indispensable
to the daily life of millions of Chinese, providing a network of web
properties and community based/web 2.0 products which offer the vast
Sohu user community a broad array of choices regarding information,
entertainment and communication. Sohu has built one of the most comprehensive
matrices of Chinese language web properties and proprietary search engines,
consisting of the mass portal and leading online media destination www.sohu.com;
interactive search engine www.sogou.com; #1 online alumni club www.chinaren.com;
#1 games information portal www.17173.com; the top real estate website
www.focus.cn; wireless value-added services provider www.goodfeel.com.cn;
and leading online mapping service provider www.go2map.com.
Sohu corporate services consist of brand advertising on its matrix
of websites as well as paid listing and bid listing on its in-house
developed search directory and engines. Sohu also offers three types
of consumer services. Sohu offers wireless value-added services such
as news, information, music, ringtone and picture content sent over
mobile phones. The company also operates two massively multi-player
online role-playing games as well as a casual game platform, and manages
an e-commerce platform. Sohu.com, established by Dr. Charles Zhang,
one of China's Internet pioneers, is in its tenth year of operation.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about
our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These
statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and
therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you
that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the uncertain
regulatory landscape in the People's Republic of China, fluctuations
in Sohu’s quarterly operating results, Sohu's historical and possible
future losses and limited operating history, and the company's reliance
on online advertising sales, wireless services (most wireless revenues
are collected from a few mobile telecom operators), online games and
e-commerce for its revenues. Further information regarding these and
other risks is included in Sohu's annual report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2005, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended March 31, 2006, and other filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
About Joyo.com
Joyo.com was founded in May 2000 and is now the largest retailer of
Chinese books in the world. In addition, Joyo.com offers its customers
a wide selection of books, music, videos and DVDs, software, wireless
and digital cameras, toys and gifts, health and personal care items,
among other products, as well as free shipping on qualifying purchases
over RMB 99. Joyo.com is headquartered in Beijing.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc., (Nasdaq: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle,
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest
Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric
company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want
to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible
prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished
and used items in categories such as health and personal care, jewelry
and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoors, apparel and accessories,
books, music, DVDs, electronics and office, toys and baby, and home
and garden.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp,
www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca.
In 2004, Amazon.com acquired Joyo.com Limited, which operates the Joyo.com
Web site in cooperation with Chinese subsidiaries and affiliates.
As used herein, "Amazon.com," includes Amazon.com, Inc.,
and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.
Forward Looking Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly
from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to
competition, management of growth, potential fluctuations in operating
results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and
claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements,
acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system
interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, limited
operating history, government regulation and taxation, payments, fraud,
consumer trends, and new business areas. More information about factors
that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included
in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2005, and all subsequent filings.
Sohu.com Contact Information
Jessica Zhang
Senior Manager
Sohu.com Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Tel: +86 10 6272 6616
E-mail: ir@contact.sohu.com
http://corp.sohu.com
Joyo.com Contact Information
Tony Tian
Public Relations Manager
Tel: +86 10 65690310
E-mail: weibin@amazon.com
http://joyo.com
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