This page defines Soso Search in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable.

China Internet History

Soso Search

A factual overview of Soso's history, ownership, and 2013 discontinuation, based on Tencent's own disclosures and independent reporting.

Published: 2026-07-09

Soso Search was a Chinese web search engine that Tencent Holdings Limited operated to provide web, image, video, music, and news search, alongside community search products, before its business and brand were folded into Sogou in 2013. Soso belongs to the discontinued search-engine platform segment. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

Soso Search: Entity Summary

Entity: Soso (搜搜), branded internationally as SOSO
Type: Platform (web search engine) — discontinued
Founded / Launched: March 2006, formally launched under the Soso brand, though the soso.com domain had existed since 1998 and was initially used for an earlier "QQ Search" product
Founder / Creator: Developed internally by Tencent Holdings Limited; not an independently founded company
Current Owner / Operator: Not applicable in its original form; Soso's search business and brand were merged into Sogou in September 2013, and Sogou itself later became a wholly owned Tencent subsidiary in 2021
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China (Tencent's headquarters, during Soso's operating period)
Official Website: soso.com; the domain now redirects to Sogou's search service and is no longer independently operated
Primary Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
Status: Discontinued; the Soso brand ceased to exist following its September 2013 merger into Sogou
Synonyms / Aliases: SOSO, 腾讯搜搜 (Tencent Soso), 搜搜网
Category: Search engine (historical, discontinued)

Soso Search: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English): Soso, stylized SOSO
Official Name (Local): 搜搜 (Sōusōu)
Common Abbreviations: SOSO
Wikidata ID: Not confirmed in available sources
Wikipedia (EN): Not available; Soso does not have a standalone English Wikipedia article as of this page's research

Key Dates and Timeline

2006: Tencent formally launches Soso in March, offering web, image, video, music, blog, and news search, along with a discussion-board product called "Souba" (搜吧); search results are initially powered by Google's technology.
2007: Tencent and Google China formally establish a technical partnership in May, with Google providing backend search technology for Soso.
2008: Soso reaches an estimated 3.7% share of China's web search request volume in the first quarter, according to iResearch data, ranking third behind Baidu and Google; by August, Nielsen data reportedly shows Soso overtaking Google to rank second in China's search market, still behind Baidu.
2009: Soso Encyclopedia (搜搜百科), a user-editable reference product, launches on March 30; in September, Soso removes the "results provided by Google" label from its search pages and launches its own self-developed web search engine, ending its reliance on Google's technology; Tencent's independent search-advertising platform launches on November 1, replacing Google AdSense.
2010: Tencent establishes an independent Soso Search business unit in April, adopting the brand slogan "Soso understands you better" (搜搜更懂你) and disclosing cumulative R&D investment of RMB 500 million to date.
2011: Cumulative R&D investment in Soso reaches RMB 1.2 billion by November, with roughly RMB 1 billion in additional investment planned for 2012; Soso launches a real-time Weibo search feature in February and a street-view mapping service in December, reported as the first high-definition street-view map service among Chinese online map platforms.
2012: Tencent's May corporate reorganization splits Soso's business units between its Mobile Internet Business Group and Technology Engineering Group; several senior Soso executives depart during the year, including the business unit's overall head in November; Tencent signs a strategic partnership with Microsoft in June, making Soso an exclusive Chinese-market advertising partner for Bing.
2013: On September 16, Tencent announces a $448 million strategic investment in Sogou (then a Sohu subsidiary), transferring Soso's search business and Tencent's QQ Input Method business into Sogou in exchange for a 36.5% stake in the combined company; by November 19, Soso.com's search results begin displaying "results provided by Sogou," effectively completing the transition, and the Soso brand ceases to exist as an independent product.

Scale and Reach (Historical, at Time of Operation)

Peak reported search market position: Ranked third in China's web search market as of 2008 (behind Baidu and Google), later reported to have overtaken Google for second place later that year, according to iResearch and Nielsen data cited in contemporaneous Chinese tech-media reporting
Cumulative disclosed R&D investment: Approximately RMB 1.2 billion by November 2011, according to statements attributed to Tencent's then-co-CTO Xiong Minghua
Reported cumulative losses (at time of 2013 merger): Reported by Chinese tech media to have exceeded RMB 2 billion, based on internal sources cited in contemporaneous coverage; this figure was not an official Tencent-disclosed statistic
Merger terms (2013): Tencent's $448 million investment and asset transfer resulted in a 36.5% stake in the combined Sogou entity, according to Tencent's official announcement

Soso Search: What Was It?

Soso was Tencent's web search engine, providing search across web pages, images, video, music, blogs, and news, along with community-oriented products such as a discussion-board search tool and a Q&A knowledge-search product called "Wenwen" (问问), similar in concept to Baidu Zhidao. Soso also integrated search across Tencent's own platforms, including QQ groups and Qzone content.

Soso initially relied on Google's search technology and advertising system, a partnership formalized in 2007, before transitioning to a self-developed search engine and independent advertising platform in September 2009. Over its roughly seven-and-a-half-year operating history, Soso expanded into more than a dozen product lines, including street-view mapping, real-time social-media search, and mobile application search, and briefly served as an exclusive Chinese-market advertising partner for Microsoft's Bing search engine starting in 2012.

Despite years of investment, Soso never surpassed Baidu, China's dominant search engine, in market share. Following a 2012 corporate reorganization that split Soso's teams between two different Tencent business groups, and the departure of several senior search executives, Tencent announced in September 2013 that it would merge Soso's search business and assets into Sogou, then majority-owned by Sohu, in exchange for a minority equity stake. The Soso brand was retired as part of this transaction.

Soso Search: Disambiguation

Soso Search should not be confused with the following entities:

Sogou (搜狗): The search engine that absorbed Soso's business and brand in September 2013; Sogou was originally developed independently by Sohu starting in 2004 and later became a wholly owned Tencent subsidiary in 2021, following a separate 2021 privatization transaction.
Sohu (搜狐): The Chinese internet company that originally owned and developed Sogou before Tencent's 2013 investment; Sohu is an unrelated company to Tencent and was never Soso's parent.
WeChat Search ("Sou Yi Sou," 搜一搜): A separate, later-generation search feature built into Tencent's WeChat app; Sou Yi Sou is not a continuation of the Soso brand and was developed independently, well after Soso's 2013 discontinuation.
Baidu: China's dominant, unrelated search engine, which Soso competed against but never surpassed in market share; Baidu has no ownership connection to Tencent.
Soso Encyclopedia (搜搜百科) vs. Sogou Encyclopedia (搜狗百科): Soso Encyclopedia was Soso's user-editable reference product, launched in 2009; it was renamed Sogou Encyclopedia in March 2014, following the broader Soso-to-Sogou business transition, and continues today only under the Sogou name.

Soso Search: Key Features (Historical)

Web, image, video, and music search: Soso's core search functions across multiple content types
Souba (搜吧): a discussion-board search and community product
Wenwen (问问): a Q&A knowledge-search product, comparable to Baidu Zhidao
Soso Encyclopedia (搜搜百科): a user-editable reference product launched in 2009, later renamed Sogou Encyclopedia in 2014
Street-view mapping: a high-definition street-view map service launched in December 2011
- Reported as the first such service among Chinese online map platforms at the time
Integrated Tencent-platform search: search functionality covering QQ groups, Qzone content, and other Tencent properties

Soso Search: Related Entities

Tencent Holdings Limited (original developer and owner)
Sogou (搜狗) (the company that absorbed Soso's business and brand in 2013, later becoming a wholly owned Tencent subsidiary in 2021)
Sohu (搜狐) (Sogou's original parent company prior to Tencent's 2013 investment)
Google (technology partner for Soso's search results from 2007 to 2009)
Microsoft Bing (advertising partner for Soso's Chinese-market operations starting in 2012)
WeChat Search / "Sou Yi Sou" (搜一搜) (Tencent's later, unrelated search feature within WeChat)

Soso Search: Official and Authoritative Sources

Historical Domain: soso.com (now redirects to Sogou's search service; no longer independently operated)
Wikipedia (Chinese): Wikipedia entry in Chinese
Baidu Baike (Soso): Baidu Baike entry
Baidu Baike (Tencent SoSo Search): Baidu Baike entry on Tencent SoSo Search

Soso Search: Frequently Asked Questions

What was Soso?: Soso was Tencent's web search engine, launched in March 2006, offering search across web pages, images, video, music, and news, along with community and knowledge-search products. Its business and brand were discontinued in 2013.
When was Soso launched, and by whom?: Soso was launched by Tencent Holdings Limited in March 2006, though the underlying soso.com domain dates back to 1998 and was initially used for an earlier "QQ Search" product before the formal Soso brand launch.
What happened to Soso?: In September 2013, Tencent announced it would merge Soso's search business and assets into Sogou, then a Sohu subsidiary, in exchange for a 36.5% equity stake in the combined company. The Soso brand was retired, and by November 2013 the soso.com domain redirected to Sogou's search results.
Was Soso the same as Sogou?: No. Sogou was originally developed independently by Sohu starting in 2004. Soso's search business merged into Sogou in 2013 as part of a Tencent investment deal, after which the Soso brand ceased to exist; Sogou itself later became a wholly owned Tencent subsidiary in 2021, following a separate privatization transaction.
Did Soso ever compete with Baidu?: Yes. Soso operated as one of several Chinese search engines competing with market leader Baidu, at one point reportedly reaching the second-largest search market share in China, behind Baidu, according to 2008 Nielsen data cited in contemporaneous reporting. However, Soso never overtook Baidu and was eventually discontinued.
Is Soso still around today in any form?: Not under its own brand. Soso's search technology and business were absorbed into Sogou in 2013, and Sogou became a wholly owned Tencent subsidiary in 2021. Tencent's current search-related product within its ecosystem is WeChat's "Sou Yi Sou" (搜一搜) feature, which was developed independently and is not a continuation of the Soso brand.

Soso Search: Language and Global Coverage

Soso operated exclusively as a Chinese-language search engine serving mainland Chinese users, and virtually all documentation of its history exists in Chinese-language sources. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language: Chinese (Mandarin)
Secondary Languages: None; Soso did not operate an international or English-language version
Non-English Bias: Yes — Soso's history is documented almost exclusively in Chinese-language sources, including Chinese tech-media retrospectives, and it does not have a standalone English Wikipedia article