Sohu Com (SOHU) saw its loss widen to $65.90 million, or $1.71 a share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. In the previous year period, the company reported a loss of $30.40 million, or $0.80 a share. On the other hand, adjusted net loss for the quarter widened to $69.49 million, or $1.79 a share from a loss of $13.05 million or $0.34 a share, a year ago. Revenue during the quarter dropped 11.66 percent to $411.76 million from $466.10 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 1306 basis points over the previous year period to 43.70 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 12.54 percent as compared to a positive 4.07 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $51.65 million, compared with an operating income of $18.97 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted operating loss for the quarter stood at $48.68 million compared to operating profit of $43.95 million in prior year period.
Dr. Charles Zhang, chairman and chief executive officer of Sohu.com Inc., commented, “Looking back at 2016, we faced a challenging operating environment. The sluggish economy, intensified competition and tightening regulatory rules on search industry impacted Sohu Group’s financial performance. However, these challenges didn’t stop us from pursuing innovation across our key products and exploring new business opportunities. We saw encouraging progress in each of our major business lines. For Sohu Media Portal, through improved content and product design, the Sohu News App gained solid user traction. For Sohu Video, we made original production one of our top priorities as we released several hit shows and the exclusive content helped us rapidly expand our subscriber base. For Sogou, mobile search traffic and revenues continued to outgrow the industry, and we have made artificial intelligence, or AI, a major cornerstone of our long-term strategic direction. And lastly, Changyou focused their efforts on building a pipeline of high quality mobile games. It now prepares to roll out a few promising titles, including the Legacy TLBB mobile game, in 2017."
For the first-quarter, Sohu Com forecasts revenue to be in the range of $345 million to $375 million. Sohu Com projects net loss to be in the range of $64 million to $74 million for the first-quarter. Sohu Com expects adjusted net loss to be in the range of $60 million to $70 million for the first-quarter. The company expects diluted loss per share to be in the range of $1.65 to $1.90 for the first-quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company expects diluted loss per share to be in the range of $1.55 to $1.80 for the first-quarter.
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