Tech Execs Deflect, But Don’t Directly Deny, Rumors of Sogou Acquisition

Rumors have been swirling for several weeks now of an acquisition deal for Sohu search and input method subsidiary Sogou, with Baidu, Qihoo, and Tencent all rumored to be competing to acquire the company. Recently, reports have suggested that Qihoo 360 has won the battle and acquired the company, and that Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan was on his way out. But in a text message sent to members of the press, Tencent Tech reports that Qihoo CEO Zhou Hongyi’s official response is: “Don’t believe and propagate the rumors.”

That would certainly seem to be a denial. But interestingly, reporters got a somewhat vaguer text from Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan, who told them simply that nothing had yet been finalized. On his microblog account, Wang has denied rumors that he’s slated to join Alibaba. And Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang stressed earlier this week that the company has enough cash in the bank that it doesn’t need to put Sogou up for sale.

None of these statements have done much to quash the rumors, however, because it seems no one is willing to come out and directly say: “We’re not selling (or buying) Sogou, period.” Whether or not a deal is ever finalized, the lack of absolute language in all three statements suggests that there is, at the very least, some consideration of an acquisition deal going on behind the scenes. And with Qihoo hoping to pose a more serious threat to Baidu, and Baidu wanting to prevent that, it certainly makes sense that both companies would be looking at Sogou and other minor search players as potential acquisitions to bolster their search offerings.

For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see. Perhaps someone will outright deny the rumors, or perhaps in a few weeks or months we’ll find out that there was some truth to them when Sogou announces a new investment or merger.

(Tencent Tech via TechWeb)