Sohu Com Inc. (SOHU)

[eastunder]

Sohu Rallies on IPO Plans as Earnings Lift ADRs: China Overnight
By Belinda Cao - Aug 6, 2012 10:51 AM MT

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-06/sohu-rallies-on-ipo-plans-as-earnings-lift-adrs-china-overnight.html?cmpid=yhoo

Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU), China’s fifth-most visited website, led gains in the nation’s Internet companies traded in New York, surging the most since October 2008 after saying its unit is planning an initial public offering.

The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) of the most-traded Chinese companies in the U.S. rose 3.1 percent to 90.08 at 12:40 p.m. in New York, the most since May. Sohu and its online games unit Changyou.com Ltd. (CYOU) jumped 16 percent after announcing the U.S. IPO plans of a subsidiary. Social website operator Renren Inc. (RENN) gained the most in six months. Youku Inc. (YOKU) and Tudou Holdings Ltd. (TUDO) climbed more than 8 percent after saying their merger will be completed by the month’s end.

7Road.com Ltd., the online games company controlled by Changyou, plans to submit to the U.S. securities regulator a draft statement for a possible IPO, Sohu said in a statement yesterday. Changyou, which is 67 percent owned by Sohu, also announced it will pay shareholders a dividend of $3.8 for each share, after its 14 percent growth in second-quarter profit beat the average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“What drives Sohu’s stock prices is really the growth in its games unit Changyou,” Henry Guo, an analyst at ThinkEquity Partners LLC, said by phone yesterday from San Francisco. “Changyou’s IPO plan for its web games unit and dividend payment indicate strong performance of the gaming business, and the parent company will benefit from it.”