BEIJING, CHINA, March 26, 2007 – Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU), China's
leading online media, search and mobile value-added services company, today
announced media collaboration and other key programs in conjunction with Sohu’s
role as the Official Internet Sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Ms. Carol Yu, Co-President and CFO of Sohu, stated, “With the 500-day
countdown to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, athletes and sponsors alike are
preparing for the first Olympic Games to be held in China. As the first Internet
Content Sponsor in the history of the Olympics, Sohu is already powering the
official Beijing Olympics website. We have also begun implementing more than 20
key programs, together with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of
the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), to highlight enthusiasm and support for China’s first
time as host of the Olympic Games. These programs are designed to attract a
broad range of Chinese Internet users including world-famous athletes and
Olympic fans alike.”
Leveraging Sohu’s unique status of sole Internet Sponsor and operator of the
official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Sohu is the only Chinese
online media company to have exclusive access to premier Olympic content. As
such, Sohu is announcing an exclusive collaborative agreement with the nation’s
top 15 newspapers in setting up a media alliance for the Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games. The members of the alliance will join Sohu’s journalist team and share
their resources to provide extensive Olympics-related coverage and reporting. In
addition, each member will commit to promote Sohu’s unique status and strengths
surrounding the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Mr. Luming Chen, Vice President of Olympic Sponsorship for Sohu, commented,
“Sohu’s collaborative agreement with China’s leading traditional media outlets
marks the first time multiple media outlets are working together to report on
the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in a format that underscores the importance of
reaching the vast Chinese audience through both traditional and new
media.”
In addition to its collaborative media program, Sohu also
announced its involvement in new initiatives and programs promoting the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games including:
- Olympics Families Selection – A Sohu-driven initiative, presented on the
Official Olympic website (http://en.beijing2008.cn/), to select and invite five
families from across the globe and five families from China to attend the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and share their experiences.
- International Volunteers Recruitment – A program to raise awareness and
enrollment for volunteers from around the world to assist with the
administration of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
- Honorary Website Visitors Selection – The official website of the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games is enrolling a total of 2008 Honorary Official Website
Visitors as part of a campaign to mark the 500-day countdown to the Olympics. On
March 26, the Official Olympic website published the first batch of 500 Honorary
Visitors, including official website users, BOCOG officials, sports and art
stars (including world-famous female Chinese volleyball player Lang Ping),
volunteers, and people with disabilities. The Honorary Visitors will take part
in special activities and will serve as "Online Messengers" of the Official
Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
- "Good Luck Beijing" events – Test games for Olympics venues which will
occur from July 2007 to June 2008. The events will include 42 games featuring
global competitors from 28 Olympic sports and two Paralympic sports. Sohu will
provide timely and comprehensive coverage of the Good Luck Beijing events
including news reporting, coverage on Sohu Blog and Sohu Club, video highlights
and video interviews with the athletes.
Dr. Charles Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Sohu, stated, “The Olympics Games are
not only the world’s premier athletic competition, but also a global economic
and cultural event. The Olympics offer significant opportunities to Beijing as
well as cities throughout China. Sohu, as the sole Internet Sponsor, is devoted
to providing the best online reporting for the Beijing 2008 Olympics and
encouraging participation, contribution and enjoyment of this historic
event.”
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
network operators), and online games 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, 2006, and other filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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 two 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
a massively multi-player online role-playing game and a casual game platform.
Sohu.com, established by Dr. Charles Zhang, one of China's Internet pioneers, is
in its eleventh year of operation.
Sohu.com Contact Information Jessica Zhang Senior
Manager Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Tel: +86 10 6272
6596 E-mail:
ir@contact.sohu.com http://corp.sohu.com
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