Tencent makes bid for search operator Sogou

Tencent Inc is offering to buy out New York-listed Sogou, which operates an online search engine and an AI services business, Sogou’s parent Sohu said on Tuesday. 

Tencent, already a major shareholder of Sogou, offered to buy Sogou at US$9 per share, according to a statement from Sohu, which hasn’t made any decision on the proposed deal. 

Sogou jumped 48 percent to close at US$8.51 after the offer was announced, which brought its shares close to their offering price. 

Sogou now operates the second-biggest search engine in China, behind Baidu. It also has millions of users of its Chinese-language input tool, which features AI functionality.