Charles Zhang - Founding of Sohu

Founding of Sohu

Soon after leaving MIT, Dr. Zhang joined Internet Securities Inc. (ISI) in November 1995 and returned to Beijing to establish the ISI China operation. While at ISI, Zhang quickly envisioned an Internet search engine company. Charles Zhang started his own company, Internet Technologies China (ITC) in 1996 with two fellow MIT Professors and with the help of venture capital. It was also the first VC funding of a Chinese Internet company. In May, 1997, after a meeting with Jerry Yang, Zhang decided to transform ITC and changed its name to Sohu.

Sohu and its search engine quicky became a household name in China. Zhang managed to successfully conducted four mergers with other Chinese Internet companies to raise capital. On July 12, 2000, Sohu was listed to trade on NASDAQ - GS. During the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, Sohu's stock dropped below $1 USD, many board members and investors wanted to replace Zhang. He credited his nonconfrontational style helped him to hold on. Today, Sohu is one of very well known Chinese Internet stocks, with a market value of around 2 billions dollars at around $45 USD/share. Internet Community Blogging and Short-messaging service, which helped the company turn around and generated total revenues of $750 million in China in 2002, accounted for 48% of company's revenues in 2004 and 2006.