This will enable Sohu to provide its end-users with more up-to-date maps, greater coverage of the Chinese landscape, and increased functionality in its personal navigation devices.
"Sohu is pleased to continue its partnership with DigitalGlobe to provide the most current and most extensive imagery of the Chinese landscape to our end-users," said Bill Kong, director of Sohu Map. "With this partnership, we can continue to deliver an even richer, more engaging experience across our entire portfolio of online, gaming, and mobile services."
Sohu has used DigitalGlobe content for the last three years. This latest agreement extends Sohu's access to DigitalGlobe's industry-leading Image Library. The Library offers customers over 1.8 billion square kilometers of highly accurate imagery, with 2 million square kilometers of fresh imagery added each day.
Sohu is the first online map service provider in China to use satellite imagery.
"DigitalGlobe is honored to continue working with one of the leading innovators of online location-based services in China," said Takayuki Odawara, head of North Asia commercial operations at DigitalGlobe, Inc. "We are confident that this expanding relationship will enable Sohu to strengthen its position in the market and enhance the user experience through access to the world's largest and most current commercial imagery library."
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Sohu expects to debut its expanded imagery content on its website in the first quarter of 2012.
About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. Sourced from our own advanced satellite constellation, our imagery solutions support a wide variety of uses within defense and intelligence, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, Internet portals and navigation technology. With our collection sources and comprehensive ImageLibrary (containing more than one billion square kilometers of earth imagery and imagery products) we offer a range of on- and off-line products and services designed to enable customers to easily access and integrate our imagery into their business operations and applications. In China, DigitalGlobe imagery is distributed by its joint venture, Siwei WorldView Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. For more information, visit www.digitalglobe.com.
About Sohu
Sohu.com Inc. is China's premier online brand and indispensable to the daily life of millions of Chinese, providing a network of web properties and community based/web 2.0 products which offer the vast Sohu user community a broad array of choices regarding information, entertainment and communication. Sohu has built one of the most comprehensive matrices of Chinese language web properties and proprietary search engines, consisting of the mass portal and leading online media destination www.sohu.com; interactive search engine www.sogou.com; #1 games information portal www.17173.com; the top real estate website www.focus.cn; #1 online alumni club www.chinaren.com; wireless value-added services provider www.goodfeel.com.cn; leading online mapping service provider www.go2map.com; and developer and operator of online games www.changyou.com/en/.
Sohu corporate services consist of online brand advertising on its matrix of websites as well as bid listing and home page on its in-house developed search directory and engine. Sohu also offers wireless value-added services such as news, information, music, ringtone and picture content sent over mobile phones. Sohu's online game subsidiary, Changyou.com and its subsidiaries currently operates over 10 online games that includes in-house developed MMORPGs, such as Tian Long Ba Bu, one of the most popular online games in China, and Duke of Mount Deer, as well as Web-based games such as DDTank. Sohu.com, established by Dr. Charles Zhang, one of China's internet pioneers, is in its fifteenth year of operation.
DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.
Safe Harbor Statement
Our reports, filings, presentations and public announcements may contain or incorporate forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. We generally identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar words, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words.
Any forward-looking statements are based upon our historical performance and on our current plans, estimates and expectations. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us that the future plans, estimates or expectations will be achieved. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and assumptions. A number of important factors could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such forward looking statements, including: the loss, reduction or change in terms of any of our primary contracts; the loss or impairment of our satellites; delays in the construction and launch of WorldView-3; delays in implementation of planned ground system and infrastructure enhancements; loss or damage to the content contained in our ImageLibrary; interruption or failure of our ground system and other infrastructure, decrease in demand for our imagery products and services; increased competition that may reduce our market share or cause us to lower our prices; our failure to obtain or maintain required regulatory approvals and licenses; changes in U.S. foreign law or regulation that may limit our ability to distribute our imagery products and services; the costs associated with being a public company; and other important factors, all as described more fully in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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