Itel sells 277,000 shares in Sohu.com
Monday, April 23, 2001
Chip-maker trims Sohu.com stake
DAVID WILDER
Battered retail investors are not the only ones selling out of the Chinese Internet sector.
Intel Corp divested itself of 277,000 shares in Sohu.com for about US$252,500 between January 29 and March 15, according to United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
This leaves Intel with 3.07 million Sohu shares - an 8.63 per cent stake.
The filing said Intel "intends to enter into an agreement to sell its remaining shares of common stock of the company to Beijing University JB Group".
Beijing University JB is the parent of software play Beijing Beida Jade Bird Universal Sci-Tech, which is listed on the Growth Enterprise Market.
Once a leading light of China's Internet industry, Sohu has seen its share price crumble along with leading peers Sina.com, Netease and Chinadotcom Corp.
However, analysts said Intel executives would not be suffering from too many sleepless nights, despite selling out near the stock's record low.
"They went in much earlier," Merrill Lynch analyst David Cui said.
"They always wanted to cash out. I suspect they'll probably still make money, even at this point."
Mr Cui said Sohu's problems were not unique in the sector.
"Clearly all Chinese portals need to think hard about strategy going forward," he said.
Recently, the stock became the subject of speculation it would be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market after it fell to less than US$1.
A delisting process begins if a stock trades at less than US$1 for 30 consecutive sessions.
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