Sohu Debuts on NASDAQSohu.com Inc, a Beijing-based Internet content provider (ICP), closed with its price virtually unchanged after its first trading day on the NASDAQ stock market on Wednesday.Sohu.com is the fourth Chinese-concept Internet portal to be listed in the US. Shares of Sohu.com opened at US$13.031 and ended at US$13.062 on Wednesday. The company, selling 4.6 million shares at US$13, reduced its initial public offering (IPO) price after increasing it to US$16-19 less than two weeks ago. The price cut reduced the size of the IPO to US$59.8 million from US$87.4 million. Many market analysts, after the recent listing troubles of Netease.com, were pessimistic about Sohu's market prospects. "We're delighted to see that Sohu's performance was not as bad as many people expected," said a market analyst. However, he said investor interest in Chinese Internet portals has been declining. The three previous Chinese Internet portals listed on the NASDAQ were China.com, Sina.com and Netease.com. Netease.com made a dismal debut in its first trading day last month. Sohu was reported to have earned a total revenue of US$1.6 million by the end of last year while losses hit US$3.4 million. |
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