Tencent offers US$2.1b for Chinese search giant Sogou

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) – Tencent Holdings has offered to buy out and take private search engine Sogou Inc in a US$2.1 billion (S$2.9 billion) deal, adding to a slew of Chinese technology giants seeking to delist from US bourses. Shares of the social media heavyweight climbed as much as 4.7 per cent Tuesday (July 28), buoyed by speculation it will more closely integrate Sogou’s AI technology with its own services and devices to gain an edge on rivals like TikTok-owner ByteDance Ltd. Tencent has in past years come under pressure from ByteDance and other up-and-coming rivals in the emergent short-video arena….