Online Games Play Active Role in Sohu's Profit

Benefiting from its online gaming and advertising incomes, Sohu's fourth-quarter profit for 2008 has more than tripled from the same period a year earlier.

Sohu.com announced Monday that its total revenue for the last quarter of 2008 reached over 121 million US dollars, marking an 86 percent year-on-year rise. With that sharp increase, its net income stood at about 57 million US dollars, a better-than-expected figure.

According to the company, its own online role-playing game 'Tian Long Ba Bu' bagged about 54 million dollars for the last quarter of 2008, a rise of 2.4 times over the same period of the previous year.

To date, Sohu's online gaming sector accounts for 48 percent of the company's total revenue.

Sohu's advertising revenue, however, fell by 9 percent in the last quarter of 2008 to about 47 million dollars, which means online gaming had for the first time surpassed advertising as its promising pillar sector.

Meanwhile, Sohu has also announced its plan to export its game 'Tian Long Ba Bu' to Malaysia in the second half of 2009. This will be the fourth time sohu.com will export its own gaming product following the game's successes in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Source: CRIEnglish