sohu.com
Sohu.com is a long-running Chinese web portal that combines news, video, user posts, and other media services under the Sohu brand.
What is Sohu.com mainly used for?
Sohu.com works as a broad Chinese-language media homepage where readers can move between breaking news, business stories, entertainment, video, lifestyle content, and trending topics.
The site remains built around the classic portal model, so many different kinds of information appear together instead of being separated into one narrow service.
Sohu also operates mobile products, including the Sohu News App, Sohu Video App, and the mobile portal m.sohu.com, according to the company's investor information.
Why does Sohu.com matter in China's internet history?
Sohu was created during China's first major wave of commercial internet development and became one of the country's early recognizable online brands.
Founder Charles Zhang started the company in the 1990s, while Sohu says its roots include operating China's first online search company in 1997.
The name Sohu can be translated as "Search Fox," which still reflects that early search-engine history even though the business later moved heavily into media and entertainment.
The company eventually became publicly traded in the United States, giving Sohu an unusually long corporate history compared with many newer Chinese internet platforms.
What can visitors find on Sohu.com today?
The current homepage mixes major news stories with fast-moving articles, short updates, video recommendations, entertainment material, and user-generated content.
Sohu Video expands that model with television programs, films, animation, variety shows, and other streamed entertainment.
Sohu also encourages users to publish and distribute content, so the platform combines professional media with social and community features.
This mixture helps explain why Sohu.com feels closer to a digital newspaper, video portal, and social publishing network combined into one service.
How does Sohu make money?
The Sohu group earns money mainly from online games, marketing services, and several smaller revenue sources.
Its 2025 annual filing with the SEC reported total revenue of about $584.3 million.
Online games generated about $505.7 million of that total, while marketing services produced about $60 million and other activities contributed about $18.6 million.
This creates an important distinction because Sohu.com is best known publicly as a media website, while online gaming is now the much larger financial engine of the wider company.
Where do online games fit into the Sohu.com business?
Sohu owns Changyou, a game developer and operator whose portfolio includes PC and mobile titles such as the Tian Long Ba Bu franchise.
Changyou therefore gives the group a major revenue source that operates very differently from advertising around news and video content.
This structure allows the company to keep investing in the Sohu media brand without relying only on advertising revenue from the Sohu.com portal.
How is Sohu performing in 2026?
Sohu reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $136 million, which was 7% higher than the same quarter one year earlier.
Online game revenue reached $116 million during the quarter, while marketing services brought in $15 million.
The company reported GAAP net income attributable to Sohu.com Limited of about $0.2 million for the quarter, compared with a $20 million loss one year earlier.
Sohu also reported about $1.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and long-term time deposits as of June 30, 2026.
Who controls Sohu.com today?
Founder Charles Zhang remains chairman and chief executive officer, giving Sohu unusual leadership continuity after roughly three decades of internet industry change.
That continuity matters because the company has moved through several internet eras, from search and web portals to video, social publishing, mobile apps, and online games.
What makes Sohu.com different from newer platforms?
Sohu.com does not depend on a single format because its main strength is the combination of established media distribution, video, user publishing, and connected entertainment businesses.
Newer apps may dominate individual activities such as short video or social networking, but Sohu continues to operate as a broad destination for users who want many types of Chinese-language content in one place.
For anyone studying the evolution of China's internet, Sohu.com is therefore useful not only as a current media website but also as a surviving example of how the country's first generation of web portals adapted to the mobile era.