Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1318348/search-wars-begin-sogou-sues-qihoo
Comment/ Blogs

Search wars begin as Sogou sues Qihoo

Sogou's lawsuit against Qihoo marks the start of an intense and heated three way battle for China's search market

Sogou's lawsuit against Qihoo marks the start of an intense and heated three way battle for China's search market. Photo: EPA

Any semblance of harmony between Sohu's (Nasdaq: SOHU) Sogou online search engine and spurned suitor Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) has quickly disappeared with a new series of lawsuits between the two sides for unfair competition and defamation. I'm not too surprised by this latest development, since Sohu and Qihoo are headed by two of China's most opinionated and difficult Internet entrepreneurs, Charles Zhang and Zhou Hongyi. But I am somewhat surprised by how quickly relations have soured between these two companies, following Zhang's decision last week to sell a strategic stake in Sogou to leading Internet firm Tencent (0700.HK). That decision, which came after months of talks, was a sharp rebuke to Qihoo, which had also been aggressively courting Zhang and Sogou.

From the broader perspective, this new series of lawsuits sets the stage for what should become an interesting and intense three-way battle for China's online search market. Longtime leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) is in the lead with around two-thirds market share, while Qihoo is making a serious challenge with its year-old So.com search engine. Meantime, the combination of Sogou with Tencent's Soso.com has created a strong contender for third place, with about 10 per cent of the market and strong growth potential.