bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Sherman So

Sohu.com, the mainland's second-largest Web portal expects  to double its sales in the fourth quarter  as the popularity of its online games continue to increase.
The company also announced yesterday a stock repurchase programme of up to US$150 million.
The Beijing-based company said  fourth-quarter sales would increase to between US$118 million  and US$122 million, from US$51.5 million a year earlier. This beat analysts' consensus estimate of US$116.5 million, said JP Morgan analyst Dick Wei.
It is estimated that online games will account for US$57 million to US$59 million of sales, up from US$54.6 million in the third quarter.
'Its hit game, TLBB, is still  rising in popularity, and the company is launching new games such as The Duke of Mount Deer,' said Mr Wei.
Both TLBB and The Duke of Mount Deer are based on the kung fu novels of celebrated writer  Louis Cha.
Sohu's online brand advertising, however, will slow from the third-quarter level of US$51.1 million, which benefited from the Olympic Games.
The figure is expected to decline to between US$44 million  and US$46 million in the fourth quarter.
'As expected, Sohu benefited from the growth of the internet in China following the Beijing 2008 Olympics and other major historic events,' said Charles Zhang, the company's chairman and chief executive.
For the third quarter, revenue surged 134 per cent from a year earlier to US$120.7 million, beating the consensus estimate of US$114.7 million. Profit was up 316 per cent at US$40.3 million. Diluted earnings per share  stood at US$1.02, beating the consensus estimate of 95 US cents.
The internet company has announced a  programme to buy back  up to US$150 million of its outstanding shares of common stock until the end of next year. This will represent about 8.5 per cent of its total shares, based on Friday's closing price of US$44.73.
'The strength of Sohu's  balance sheet and operating cash flow allows us to take advantage of opportunities surrounding the volatility in the US equity market to repurchase stock and add value to Sohu's shareholders,' said Mr Zhang.
The company has US$279.4 million in cash and no debt.
Solid state
The internet company  has US$279.4 million in cash and no debt
Sohu plans to buy back from the market its own shares worth up to, in US$: $150m



Sohu expects to double sales  as  popularity of games grows