BEIJING, Sept. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Qihoo 360
Technology Co. Ltd. ("Qihoo 360" or the "Company") (NYSE:
QIHU), a leading Internet company in China, today
announced that it has reached an agreement with Coolpad Group
Limited ("Coolpad") (HKSE: 2369) to adjust their respective
shareholding in Coolpad E-Commerce Inc., a joint venture between
the Company and Coolpad set up in December
2014 to focus on mobile terminal products that are
distributed through Internet as the primary channel.
Under the agreement, the joint venture will redeem a portion of
the shares held by Coolpad in consideration of the joint venture
transferring back to Coolpad certain Internet operating assets
related to "Coolpad" branded smartphones that Coolpad had
previously contributed to the joint venture. As a result, Coolpad's
equity stake in the joint venture will be reduced to 25% from
50.5%, and the Company's equity stake in the joint venture will be
increased to 75% from 49.5%.
The Company and Coolpad also agreed to closely cooperate in
intellectual property sharing, supply chain management, product
development, and app distribution to further strengthen the joint
venture's capabilities in developing, manufacturing, marketing, and
distributing smartphones under the "QIKU" and "DAZEN" brands.
In connection with the new agreement reached with Coolpad, the
Company has agreed that, upon the closing of the share
redemption and full implementation of the new arrangement, the
Company will not pursue the put option that it exercised on
September 2, 2015 to require
Coolpad to purchase the Company's entire 49.5% stake in the joint
venture.
"We are pleased to reach this agreement with Coolpad on the
joint venture," said Mr. Hongyi
Zhou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Qihoo
360. "It is a win-win solution for both companies, the joint
venture and, above all, China's
consumers. Since we launched the first QIKU branded smartphone a
few weeks ago, we have received encouraging and positive feedback
from users and industry participants. We will continue to focus on
providing our users the best-in-class products, services, and user
experience to reward them for their unyielding support to Qihoo 360
and QIKU."
Mr. Deying Guo, Chairman of
Coolpad commented, "This agreement will promote the further
development of the joint venture, and it is a win-win solution for
Coolpad and Qihoo 360 after the recent communications. The QIKU and
DAZEN brands have already gained substantial awareness in the
e-commerce channel. We'll do the best to support the joint venture
to bring users the best experience of the smartphones in the
future. "
The Company cautions its shareholders and others considering
trading in the Company's securities that the abovementioned share
redemption and full implementation of the new arrangement are
subject to the approval by Coolpad's shareholders meeting. The
Company cannot give any assurance of the outcome of such
shareholders meeting.
About Qihoo 360
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) is a leading Internet
company in China. The Company is
also the number one provider of Internet and mobile security
products in China as measured by
its user base, according to iResearch. Qihoo 360 also provides
users with secure access points to the Internet via its market
leading web browsers and application stores. The Company has built
one of the largest open Internet platforms in China and monetizes its massive user base
primarily through online advertising and through Internet
value-added services on its open platform.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains statements that express the
Company's current opinions, expectations, beliefs, plans,
objectives, assumptions or projections regarding future events or
future results and therefore are, or may be deemed to be,
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The following
cautionary statements are being made pursuant to the provisions of
the Act and with the intention of obtaining the benefit of the
"safe harbor" provisions of the Act. You can identify these
forward- looking statements by terminology such as "will,"
"expects," "believes," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," or in
each case, their negatives or other variations or comparable
terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters
that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places
throughout this press release and include statements regarding the
Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning,
among other things, its results of operations, financial condition,
liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the industry in which
it operates.
By their nature, forward-looking statements relate to events
that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are
based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and
projections about Qihoo 360 and the industry in which it operates.
Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
those under "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent annual
report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC, and the following: the
Company's ability to continue to innovate and provide attractive
products and services to attract and retain users; the Company's
ability to keep up with rapid changes in technologies and
Internet-enabled devices; the Company's ability to leverage its
user base to attract customers for our revenue-generating services;
and the Company's dependence on online advertising for a
substantial portion of our revenues; and the Company's ability to
compete effectively. Although the Company has based these
forward-looking statements on assumptions that it believes are
reasonable when made, it cautions you that forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and that the
Company's actual results of operations, financial condition and
liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates
may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the
forward-looking statements contained in this press release. In
addition, even if the Company's results of operations, financial
condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in
which it operates, are consistent with the forward-looking
statements contained in this report, those results or developments
may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent
periods.
Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Any
forward-looking statement that the Company makes in this press
release speaks only as of the date of such statement, and the
Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to
any of those statements to reflect future events or
developments.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.
In China:
Tel: +86 10-5878-1574
E-mail: ir@360.cn
In the U.S.:
The Piacente Group, Inc.
Don Markley
Tel: (212) 481-2050
E-mail: qihu@tpg-ir.com
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SOURCE Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.