Beijing (AFP)

Chinese internet giant Tencent has submitted an offer of around $ 2 billion (1.7 billion euros) to acquire Sogou, the second largest search engine in China and a listed company in the United States.

Tencent, one of the Chinese digital giants, has for a time rivaled Facebook in terms of stock market weight. The private group is the owner of WeChat messaging, which has become essential in China with more than a billion users.

Sogou, owned by Sohu, which said in a statement released Monday evening that it had received a proposal to buy its search engine from Tencent, is the direct competitor of Baidu, the dominant search engine in China.

Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Tencent is offering a unit price of $ 9 per share to acquire the 60.8% stake in Sogou that it does not yet own. Sohu said he was studying the offer.

The takeover proposal pushed Sogou stock up 48% on Monday on the Nasdaq. Listed since 2017 on the New York Stock Exchange, the company weighs some 3.3 billion dollars (2.8 billion euros).

The announcement comes at a time when Chinese companies listed in the United States are under increased surveillance, against a backdrop of commercial and technological rivalry with Beijing.

China is also encouraging its companies to now instead choose places in Hong Kong or Shanghai to raise funds.

Last month, the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, already listed in the United States, made a fanfare entry on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising some 3.5 billion euros on its first day. listing.

© 2020 AFP