After buying one of the most influential game websites earlier this week – 17173.com – Sohu has continued its shopping spree, purchasing www.focus.cn (Focus) yesterday.
Founded in 1999, Focus is one of the top real-estate websites in mainland China, with more than 1,100,000 registered users. It is viewed as having considerable influence over the purchasing decisions of many Beijing house-buyers, as well as over the real-estate industy as a whole. In 2003, more than 200 buildings advertised with Focus.
Sohu's CEO, Zhang Changyang, said he welcomed Mr. Gong Yu, CEO of Focus, and all his staff to join Sohu's team. Gong will now be in charge of the realestate channel of Sohu.
In the first 9 months of 2003, China's GDP in real-estate was 8.2% (US$78 billion) – 32.8% higher than the same peroid last year.