Asian Tech Press (SEP 22) -- According to Jiemian News, Tencent may formally announce the merger of Sogou this week. Tencent Kandian will absorb the majority of Sogou's business and employees.
Several senior executives from Sogou said that after the official announcement of the merger, most of Sogou's business and products will be shut down and will no longer operate as an independent brand but will be integrated into Tencent Kandian.
Several directors and team leaders from Tencent Kandian confirmed that several internal centers had received demands to reduce costs and increase efficiency in mid-September, with measures including strict control over budget approval for the new year, suspension of recruitment, and dismissal of some employees.
The personnel adjustment brought by the integration of Sogou will be completed before the Spring Festival at the earliest. A considerable number of employees in the Beijing team (mainly Sogou) will be laid off, and several business lines in base Shenzhen will also cut off some of the places in exchange for Sogou employees' headcount.
Tencent Kandian currently has a sizable search center within the company, with a team of nearly 400 people covering the main businesses of search algorithms, recommendations, universal search, search growth, and commercialization.
At the end of July 2020, Tencent issued a privatization offer to Sogou to acquire Sogou wholly. In mid-July this year, the State Administration of Market Regulation disclosed that the case of Tencent's acquisition of Sogou's equity had been unconditionally approved.
Once the merger is completed, Sogou will be delisted from the NYSE and become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent.
According to the previous merger plan, after Tencent Kandian absorbs Sogou's team, the total number of employees will exceed 4,000, making it the second-largest business in terms of employee size within PCG, second only to OVB (Online Video Business Unit). (Jiemian News)
Update: Tencent responds that the recruitment of Tencent Kandian and the merger of Sogou are both proceeding normally.
