SOGO Sogou Inc

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

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Commission file number: 001-38279

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

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None

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

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None

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Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report: 108,833,041 Class A Ordinary Shares, par value $0.001 per share, and 278,757,875 Class B Ordinary Shares, par value $0.001 per share, as of December 31, 2020.

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

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If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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Note –– Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ◻

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† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

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Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing.

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

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If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

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(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court.

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INTRODUCTION

In this annual report, except where the context otherwise requires and for purposes of this annual report only:

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This annual report on Form 20-F includes our audited consolidated statements of comprehensive income for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and audited consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2019 and 2020.

We completed an initial public offering of our ADSs on November 13, 2017. Our ADSs are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") under the symbol “SOGO.”

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report on Form 20-F contains “forward looking statements.” These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Whenever you read a statement that is not simply a statement of historical fact (such as when we describe what we “believe,” “expect,” or “anticipate” will occur, and other similar statements), you must remember that our expectations may not be correct, even though we believe that they are reasonable. We do not guarantee that any future transactions and events described in this annual report will happen as described or that they will happen at all. You should read this annual report completely, with the understanding that actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.

The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to circumstances as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation, beyond that required by law, to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made, even though our situation will change in the future.

These forward-looking statements include:

Whether actual results will conform with our expectations and predictions is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and reflect future business decisions that are subject to change. Some of the assumptions, future results, and levels of performance expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements we make inevitably will not materialize, and unanticipated events may occur which will affect our results.

Risks and uncertainties affecting the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger include the possibility that they will not occur as planned if events arise that result in the termination of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement and the Sogou Merger Agreement, or if one or more of the various closing conditions to the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sohu Merger, including anti-trust clearance of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase under PRC law, are not satisfied or waived.

We would like to caution you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. You should read these statements in conjunction with all other parts of this annual report, including the risk factors set forth in Part I, Item 3 - Key Information—Risk Factors.

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(1) Share-based compensation expense included in:

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Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business

The online search industry in China is extremely competitive, and if we are unable to compete successfully, it will be difficult for us to maintain or increase our revenues and profitability.

We operate our business in an extremely competitive industry. We face intense competition in every aspect of our business, including competition for users, advertisers, technology, and talent. We face competition for our search and search-related services in China primarily from Baidu Inc. (“Baidu”) and ShenMa, operated by UCWeb Inc. (“UCWeb”), which is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (“Alibaba”). Both Baidu and Alibaba have considerably greater financial and technical resources available to them than we do. We also face competition for both users and advertisers from websites and mobile applications that provide specialized search services in China, including travel services and information platforms such as Ctrip and Qunar; group-buy platforms such as Meituan Dianping; online classified advertisement platforms such as 58.com; and short video platforms such as Douyin of Bytedance and Kuaishou. We compete for advertisers not only with Internet companies, but also with other types of advertising media such as newspapers and magazines, billboards and bus advertisements, television, and radio. It is also possible that multinational businesses with considerably greater financial and other resources than ours could expand their offerings in China, making it harder for us to gain market share.

Our existing and potential competitors compete with us for users and advertisers on the basis of the quality and quantity of search results; the features, availability, and ease of use of products and services; and the number and quality of advertising distribution channels. They also compete with us for talent with technological expertise, which is critical to the sustained development of our products and services. If we are unable to differentiate ourselves from our competitors in each of these areas, we may not be able to maintain or increase our user and advertiser base, which would have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and growth potential. In addition, we may have difficulty in successfully promoting and differentiating our new products, services, and features as a result of the market power of our competitors.

We must expand our user base to grow our business, and we must continually innovate and adapt our business in an evolving online search industry in order to do so. If we fail to continue to innovate and introduce products and services to enhance user experience, we may not be able to generate sufficient user traffic to remain competitive.

The Internet industry in general and the online search industry in particular have been undergoing rapid changes in technology and in user preferences. Our future success in expanding our user base will depend on our ability to respond to, as well as anticipate and apply, rapidly evolving technologies. We must adapt our existing products and services and develop new products and product areas that will meet the evolving demands of users, deliver attractive experiences for our users that enhance user engagement, and cause our users to return to our services and increase the frequency of their searches on our platforms. Our development and introduction of new products, features, and services are subject to additional risks and uncertainties. Unexpected technical, operational, distribution, or other problems could delay or prevent the development and introduction of one or more of our currently planned and any future new products and services. There are constant innovations in the market regarding search services, search and search-related advertising, and providing information to users. If we are unable to predict user preferences or industry changes, or if we are unable to modify our products and services on a timely basis, we may lose users. Our operating results will also suffer if our innovations are not responsive to the needs of our users, are not appropriately timed with market opportunity, or are not effectively brought to market. As search technology continues to develop, there may be offered in the China market products and services that are, or that are perceived to be, substantially similar to or better than those generated by our search services. As worldwide focus on the development of AI technologies has intensified, it has become increasingly important to apply AI technologies to online search products and features in order to attract and retain users, and we cannot be sure that we will be able to apply such technologies successfully.

Our competitors may develop and offer new products, services, and features that are similar to ours, and such new offerings from our competitors may be found by users to be more attractive than ours. Moreover, our competitors may introduce new products, services, and features to the market before we can, and we cannot be sure that any of our new products, services, and features will attract additional users and lead to the generation of incremental revenue.

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As users increasingly use mobile devices to access search services and other Internet services in China, we will need to continue to design, develop, promote, and operate new products and services tailored for mobile devices. Our design and development of new products and services that are optimized for mobile devices may not be successful. We may encounter difficulties with the installation and delivery of such new products and services, and they may not function smoothly. As new mobile devices are released or updated, we may encounter problems in developing and upgrading our products and services for the new releases and updates, and we may need to devote significant resources to such development and upgrades. If we are not successful in so adapting our offerings for mobile devices, maintenance and growth of our business will be impeded.

If our collaboration with Tencent is terminated or curtailed, our business and prospects for growth will be adversely affected.

We have extensive collaboration with Tencent, one of our largest shareholders. We are the default general search engine in various Tencent products that provide general search offerings, such as Mobile QQ Browser, qq.com, and the PC Web directories daohang.qq.com and hao.qq.com. Approximately 39% of our total search traffic, measured by page views, was contributed by Tencent’s Internet properties in December 2020. Sogou Weixin Search is currently the sole general search engine with access to all content published on Weixin Official Accounts, but it is possible that Tencent will grant such access to other general search engines. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain the current level of cooperation with Tencent in the future. If our collaborative relationship with Tencent is terminated or curtailed due to Tencent’s initiating its own general search service or partnering with other search engine companies, or if any of the commercial terms were to be revised or made less favorable to us, or if Tencent does not continue to deliver to us an adequate level of access to its platforms or adequately promote our products and services, our business and prospects will be adversely affected. For a detailed discussion of our collaborative arrangements with Tencent, see “Related Party Transactions- Business Collaboration with Tencent.”

Our efforts to expand our collaboration with Tencent may not be successful.

In September 2018, we and Tencent agreed to extend until September 2023 the period during which Sogou Search will be the default general search engine for Tencent’s products that provide general search offerings in accordance with our existing business collaboration arrangements with Tencent. In addition, we and Tencent have agreed to continue from September 2020 until September 2021 our initiative for the integration into the existing Weixin/WeChat search service of a search function powered by Sogou Search that allows Weixin/WeChat users to access Internet information outside Weixin/WeChat and have agreed that Sogou Search will be the preferred third-party search function to power such a Weixin/WeChat search function for that period provided Sogou Search meets “Tencent’s requirements for user experience,” and that the arrangement may be extended for additional successive one-year periods through September 2023 if offering Sogou Search will not “harm the user experience.” See “Related Party Transactions—Business Collaboration with Tencent.” It is difficult for us to predict the potential impact of the integration of Sogou Search to power such a Weixin/WeChat search function measured under the standards of “Tencent’s requirements for user experience” and/or “harm the user experience.” The potential for growth of our business through such integration will be limited if Tencent does not make Sogou Search the preferred search function or decides not to extend the arrangement for such integration and a Tencent search function or a search function of one of our competitors is given priority over ours in Weixin/WeChat.

The currently pending Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and Sogou Merger may not occur.

The currently pending Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger may not occur if events arise that result in the termination of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement or the Sogou Merger Agreement, or if one or more of the various closing conditions to the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger, including anti-trust clearance of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase under PRC law, are not satisfied or waived. If the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement and the Sogou Merger Agreement are terminated, or if the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger are not consummated, our collaboration with Tencent, and our business and prospects, would be likely to be adversely affected.

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Our existing business and our expansion strategy depend on certain additional key collaborative arrangements, and any inability to maintain or develop such relationships could have an adverse effect on our business and prospects for growth.

Our existing business, and our strategy for developing our business, involve maintaining and developing various types of collaborations with third parties, which provide us with access to additional user traffic, search services, products, and technology. For example, our Sogou Wise Doctor delivers healthcare information, and receives healthcare data, through partnerships that provide us with access to articles written by physicians and to a PRC-government sponsored healthcare encyclopedia; our partnership with Zhihu provides us with access to a knowledge-sharing platform; our partnership with Microsoft’s Bing provides us with the technology to provide our users with English content on the Internet that we translate to Chinese in connection with our cross-language search service; and our partnership with China Literature enables our users to access literature from a large online collection. In addition, our various partnerships with third-party Internet properties provide our advertisers significant exposure to users beyond our core search user base. We consider these collaborations to be important to our ability to deliver attractive service, product, and content offerings to our users, in order to maintain and expand our user and advertiser bases, and we believe that it will continue to be important for us to develop similar partnerships in the future. Our inability to maintain and grow such relationships could have an adverse impact on our existing business and our growth prospects.

We also have existing, and hope to develop additional, relationships with mobile device manufacturers for pre-installation of our search, input method, and related applications. If we are unable to maintain and expand such relationships, the quality and reach of delivery of our services will be adversely affected, and it may also be difficult for us to maintain and expand our user base and enhance awareness of our brand. In addition, our competitors may establish the same relationships as those we have, which would tend to diminish any advantage we might otherwise gain from these relationships.

If we fail to maintain and expand our collaborations with third-party operators of Internet properties, our revenues and growth may be adversely affected.

We place certain of our advertisers’ promotional links on the Internet properties of third parties, thereby expanding the base of users accessing the advertisements beyond our own user base, and increasing our pay-for-click revenues. If these third parties decide to use a competitor’s or their own online search services, or do not prominently display our advertisements in comparison to those of other advertisers on their properties, or if we fail to attract additional third-party operators of Internet properties, our advertising revenues and growth may be adversely affected.

We may not be able to resume our historical growth or successfully manage any future growth.

Our revenues were US$1.124 billion, US$1.172 billion and US$924.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. The decrease in our revenues from 2019 to 2020 resulted from uncertainties with respect to Sogou’s business policies among certain advertisers as a result of the currently pending Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and Sogou Merger, unfavorable macroeconomic conditions resulting from the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) pandemic, and regulatory headwinds in the Internet industry in China. In addition, although our traffic acquisition costs increased only moderately for 2020, if they trend higher in the future as they had prior to 2019 due to intensifying competition for channel partnerships, it could be difficult for us to sustain expenditures for traffic acquisition at the same level as our competitors, which could result in slower or flat growth, or a reduction, in our user traffic, which would have a negative impact on our revenues and revenue growth prospects. We may not be able to resume growth in future periods similar to that we experienced prior to 2020, and our revenues may continue to decline. Accordingly, you should not rely on the results of any prior period as an indication of our future financial and operating performance.

We are exploring and implementing, and expect to continue to explore and implement in the future, new business initiatives, including in industries in which we have limited or no experience, as well as new business models. Developing new businesses and initiatives requires significant investments of time and resources, and may present new and difficult technological, operational, and legal challenges, as well as subject us to additional regulatory risks. Any failure to effectively manage these risks may limit our future growth and hamper our business strategy.

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We depend on online advertising for a significant majority of our revenues. If we fail to retain existing advertisers or attract new advertisers for our online advertising services, our business and growth prospects could be harmed.

We earn most of our revenues from our search and search related advertising services. Advertisers will not use our services if they do not find them to be effective in producing a sufficient volume of click-throughs and desired results for advertisers. Our advertisers are generally able to terminate their relationships with us at any time without penalty if they are not satisfied with our services, choose our competitors for similar services, or advertise in media channels other than Internet search. Therefore, it could be difficult for us to maintain or increase our advertiser base, and our revenues and profits could decline or fail to increase.

We rely on third-party advertising agencies for most of our online advertising revenues.

We rely heavily on third-party advertising agencies for our sales to our advertisers. It is important that we maintain good relationships with these agencies. We do not enter into long-term agreements with any of the advertising agencies and cannot assure that we will continue to maintain favorable relationships with them. Further, we provide various types of discounts and rebates to advertising agencies in order to incentivize them to maximize the volume of advertising business that they bring to us. In order to retain or properly incentivize our advertising agencies, it may become necessary in the future for us to increase the levels of such rebates and discounts, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

If we fail to maintain and enhance awareness of and loyalty to our brand, it will be difficult for us to maintain and increase our user and advertiser bases.

It is critical for us to maintain and further enhance our brand if we are to succeed in expanding our user and advertiser bases. Our success in promoting and enhancing our brand, and our ability to remain competitive, will depend on our success in delivering superior user experience and on our marketing efforts. Enhancing our brand awareness may require substantial marketing and promotion expenses. If we are unable to maintain and enhance our brand, or incur significant marketing and promotion expenses that do not achieve anticipated business growth, or are subject to negative publicity that harms our brand, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Our success depends on the continuing efforts of our senior management team and key employees, and our business may be harmed if we lose their services.

Our business heavily depends upon the services of our key executives, particularly Xiaochuan Wang, our Chief Executive Officer. If any of our key executives is unable or unwilling to continue in his or her present position, joins a competitor, or forms a competing company, our business may be severely disrupted. Although our executive officers have entered into employment agreements, confidentiality agreements, and non-competition agreements with us, the degree of protection afforded to an employer pursuant to confidentiality and non-competition undertakings by persons employed in the PRC may be more limited when compared to the degree of protection afforded with respect to employees in some other jurisdictions. We do not maintain key-man life insurance for any of our key executives.

We also rely on key highly-skilled personnel for our business. Given the competitive nature of the industry, and in particular our competitors’ increasingly aggressive efforts to provide competitive compensation packages to attract talent in the markets where we operate, it may be difficult for us to recruit and retain qualified personnel, and the risk of members of our key staff leaving us is high. Any such departure could have a disruptive impact on our operations, and if we are unable to recruit, retain and motivate key personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.

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Our strategy of investments in and acquiring complementary businesses and assets may fail, which could result in impairment losses.

In addition to organic growth, we may take advantage of opportunities to invest in or acquire additional businesses, services, assets or technologies. However, we may fail to select appropriate investment or acquisition targets, or we may not be able to negotiate optimal arrangements, including arrangements to finance any acquisitions. Acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own could require significant management attention and could result in a diversion of resources away from our existing business. Investments and acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, increased leverage, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential liabilities of the acquired business, and the invested or acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. For example, the private companies that we have invested in could be adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, which may lead to impairment in the fair values of our investments and in turn adversely affect our financial condition and operating results. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating these transactions may be significant. In addition to obtaining the necessary corporate governance approvals, we may also need to obtain approvals and licenses from relevant governmental authorities for the acquisitions to comply with applicable laws and regulations, which could result in increased costs and delays.

Requirements of U.S. GAAP regarding the recognition of share-based compensation expense may adversely affect our results of operations and our competitiveness in the employee marketplace.

Our performance is largely dependent on talented and highly-skilled individuals. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to identify, develop, motivate, and retain highly-skilled personnel. We have a history of using low or nominally-priced employee share options as an important component of competitive pay packages, in order to align our employees’ interests with the interests of our company and our shareholders and to encourage quality employees to join and remain with us. We have adopted guidance on accounting for share-based compensation that requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense for all share-based compensation based on estimated fair values. As a result, our operating results contain charges for share-based compensation expense related to employee share options. The historical and future recognition of share-based compensation in our statements of comprehensive income has had and will have an impact on our results of operations. On the other hand, if we alter our employee share incentive plans to minimize the corresponding share-based compensation expense, it may limit our ability to continue to use share-based awards as a tool to attract and retain our employees, and it may adversely affect our operations. In addition, there may be future changes in the U.S. GAAP requirements for recognition of share-based compensation expense, which could have similar effects on our results operations and our competitiveness in the market for key employees.

Our user metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measuring our operating performance, which may harm our reputation.

We regularly review DAU, MAU, number of advertisers, page views, and other operating metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. These metrics are calculated using internal company data, have not been validated by an independent third party, and may not be indicative of our future financial results. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement, there are inherent challenges in measuring how our platforms are used across a large population in China. For example, we may not be able to distinguish individual users who have multiple accounts.

Errors or inaccuracies in our metrics or data could result in incorrect business decisions and inefficiencies. For instance, if a significant understatement or overstatement of active users were to occur, we might expend resources to implement unnecessary business measures or fail to take required actions to remedy an unfavorable trend. If partners or investors do not perceive our user, geographic, or other operating metrics to accurately represent our user base, or if we discover inaccuracies in our user, geographic, or other operating metrics, our reputation may be harmed.

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We have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of data, estimates, and projections in this annual report that we obtained from third party sources, and such information involves assumptions and limitations.

Certain facts, forecasts, and other statistics relating to the industries in which we compete contained in this annual report have been derived from various public data sources and a commissioned third-party industry report. In connection with our preparation of this annual report, we commissioned iResearch to provide market research concerning the online search industry in China. In deriving the market size of this industry, iResearch may have adopted different assumptions and estimates for certain metrics from what others might have adopted. While we generally believe the report to be reliable, we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of such information. Such report may not be prepared on a comparable basis or may not be consistent with other sources.

Industry data and projections involve a number of assumptions and limitations. Our industry data and market share data should be interpreted in the light of the defined industries in which we operate. Any discrepancy in the interpretation of such data could lead to different measurements and projections, and actual results could differ from the projections.

We may not be able to prevent others from making unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We regard our patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property as critical to our business. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties may adversely affect our business and reputation. We rely on a combination of intellectual property laws and contractual arrangements to protect our proprietary rights. It is often difficult to register, maintain, and enforce intellectual property rights in the PRC. Statutory laws and regulations are subject to judicial interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory interpretation in the PRC. In addition, contractual agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights in China. Policing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly and the steps we have taken may be inadequate to prevent the misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managerial and financial resources. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation. In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors.

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Pending or future litigation could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we have been, and may in the future be, subject to lawsuits brought by our competitors, individuals, or other entities against us. We are currently involved in several lawsuits in PRC courts where our competitors instituted proceedings or asserted counterclaims against us and we instituted proceedings or asserted counterclaims against our competitors. For example, there are a number of legal proceedings currently pending between us and Baidu in which we allege that Baidu’s input method infringes certain of our patents relating to Sogou Input Method and seek monetary damages, while Baidu has asserted in counterclaims or in a legal proceeding that it initiated against us that Sogou Input Method infringes certain of its patents, and seeks monetary damages. There is also a lawsuit pending against us in which Shanghai Cishu Publications Ltd. has alleged that we used vocabulary content without permission and seeks monetary damages. In addition, PRC courts decided in Baidu’s favor a case in which Baidu had alleged that certain functions of our Sogou Input Method unfairly divert users to us. There are also two putative class action lawsuits that were filed against us in the United States, one in a State court in the State of California and one in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, that alleged violations of U.S. securities laws in connection with our IPO in 2017. Although the plaintiffs’ complaint filed in the United States District Court in New York was found by the court to be without merit, and the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, the lawsuit in state court in California remains pending. In addition, a complaint was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a single plaintiff, who alleges that the initial Schedule 13E-3 filed with the SEC for the Sogou Merger was false and misleading, purports to demand that certain language be added to the Schedule 13E-3, and seeks an injunction to prevent the Sogou Merger as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

Where we can make a reasonable estimate of the liability relating to pending litigation against us and determine that an adverse result for us from such litigation is probable, we record a related contingent liability. As additional information becomes available, we assess the potential liability and revise estimates as appropriate. However, due to the inherent uncertainties relating to litigation, the amount of our estimates may be inaccurate, in which case our financial condition and results of operation may be adversely affected. In addition, the outcomes of actions we institute may not be successful or favorable to us. Lawsuits against us may also generate negative publicity that significantly harms our reputation, which may adversely affect our user and advertiser base. In addition to the related cost, managing and defending litigation and related indemnity obligations can significantly divert our management’s and Board of Directors’ attention from operating our business. We may also need to pay damages or settle lawsuits with a substantial amount of cash. While we do not believe that any currently pending proceedings are likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows, if there were adverse determinations in legal proceedings against us, we could be required to pay substantial monetary damages or adjust our business practices, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations, and cash flows.

We are currently subject to, and in the future may from time to time face, intellectual property infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly to defend, and could have an adverse impact on our financial position and results of operations, particularly if we are required to pay significant damages or cease offering any of our products or curtail any key features of our products.

We cannot be certain that the products, services and intellectual property used in our normal course of business do not or will not infringe valid patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We currently are, and may in the future be, subject to claims and legal proceedings relating to the intellectual property of others in the ordinary course of our business, and may in the future be required to pay damages or to agree to restrict our activities. See “—Pending or future litigation could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.” In particular, if we are found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be enjoined from using such intellectual property, may be ordered to pay damages, and may incur licensing fees or be forced to develop alternatives. We may incur substantial expense in defending against third-party infringement claims, regardless of their merit. Successful infringement claims against us may result in substantial monetary liability or may materially disrupt the conduct of our business by restricting or prohibiting our use of the intellectual property in question.

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We may not have exclusive rights to technology, trademarks, and designs that are crucial to our business.

We have applied for various patents relating to our business. While we have succeeded in obtaining some patents, some of our patent applications are still under examination by the Patent Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (the “CNIPA”). Approvals of our patent applications are subject to determinations by the Patent Office of the CNIPA and relevant overseas authorities that there are no prior rights in the applicable territory. In addition, we have applied for initial registrations in the PRC and overseas, and/or changes in registrations relating to transfers of our Sogou logos and other of our key trademarks in the PRC, and the corresponding Chinese versions of the trademarks, so as to establish and protect our exclusive rights to these trademarks. While we have succeeded in registering the trademarks for most of these marks in the PRC under certain classes, the applications for initial registration, and/or changes in registrations relating to transfers, of some marks and/or of some of trademarks under other classes are still under examination by the Trademark Office of the CNIPA, and relevant overseas authorities. Approvals of our initial trademark registration applications, and/or of changes in registrations relating to such transfers, are subject to determinations by the Trademark Office of the CNIPA and relevant overseas authorities that there are no prior rights in the applicable territories. We cannot assure you that these patent and trademark applications will be approved. Any rejection of these applications could adversely affect our rights to the affected technology, marks, and designs. In addition, even if these applications are approved, we cannot assure you that any issued patents or registered trademarks will be sufficient in scope to provide adequate protection of our rights.

If our search results contain information that is inaccurate or harmful to our users, our business and reputation may be adversely affected.

We could be exposed to liability arising from our search results listings if information accessed through our services contains errors, and third parties may make claims against us for losses incurred in reliance on that information. Investigating and defending such claims could be expensive even if they did not result in liability, and we do not carry any liability insurance against such risks.

In addition, if users do not perceive information that they access through our search services to be authoritative, useful, and trustworthy, we may not be able to retain these users or attract additional users, and our reputation, business, and results of operation may be harmed. In addition, if such content contains inaccuracies, it is possible that users will seek to hold us liable for damages, because we provide links to such content, even though such content is provided by third parties and any negative publicity regarding the accuracy of such content could harm our reputation, and reduce user traffic. In addition, any negative publicity or incident involving our peer companies could have an adverse impact on our industry as a whole, which in turn could harm our reputation and reduce our user traffic. For example, in early 2016 it was widely reported that an unsuccessful experimental cancer treatment had been promoted in a sponsored search listing on a third party’s Internet property. Even though our search results listings were not involved, we believe that the broad negative publicity surrounding the incident adversely affected the reputation of the online search industry in China in general with an adverse impact on our user traffic and results of operations in 2016.

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We may be subject to regulatory investigations and sanctions for inappropriate or illegal content that is accessed through our search results.

The online search industry in China is subject to extensive regulation. If content accessed through our search services includes information that PRC governmental authorities find illegal or inappropriate, such as obscenity, pornography, gambling, superstition, terror and violence content, we may be required to curtail or even shut down our search services, and we may be subject to other penalties or suffer loss in revenues, all of which could harm our reputation and may negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and prospects. Although we seek to prevent fraudulent or otherwise illegal or inappropriate websites and information from being included in our search results, such measures may not be effective. Further, even with such measures it may not be possible for us to prevent fraudulent or otherwise illegal or inappropriate content from being included by our advertisers in products and services they provide. For example, we suspended part of our advertising services for 10 days in July 2018 in order to implement remedial measures to ensure compliance with government regulations following a government investigation into certain non-compliant advertisements created by a third party unrelated to us and displayed on our platform in June 2018. See “—Risks Related to China’s Regulatory and Economic Environment—Regulation and censorship of information distribution in China may have an adverse effect on our business”; and “—Risks Related to China’s Regulatory and Economic Environment—The PRC government may prevent us from distributing, and we may be subject to liability for, content that it believes is inappropriate.”

We may be subject to potential liability for claims that search results violate the intellectual property rights of third parties.

It is possible that content that is made available by us through our search results may violate the intellectual property rights of third parties. PRC laws and regulations are evolving, and uncertainties exist with respect to the legal standards for determining the potential liability of online search service providers for search results that provide links to content on third-party websites that infringes copyrights of third parties. In December 2012, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC promulgated a judicial interpretation providing that PRC courts will place the burden on Internet service providers to remove not only links or content that has been specifically-mentioned in notices of infringement from persons and entities claiming copyright in such content, but also links or content that the providers “should have known” contained infringing content. This interpretation could subject us to significant administrative burdens and might expose us to civil liability and penalties.Further, we rely on content provided by professional researchers and writers, either developed by the outlets themselves or adapted from content of parties separate from such outlets, and it is difficult for us to fully monitor such content, which could make us more vulnerable to potential infringement claims.

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We may be subject to legal liability associated with online activities on our platforms.

We host and provide a wide variety of products and services that enable advertisers to advertise products and services, and users to exchange information and engage in various online activities. We may be subject to claims, investigations, or negative publicity relating to such activities. PRC laws and regulations relating to the liability of providers of online products and services for activities of their users are not fully developed, and their current and future reach is unclear. Also see “—We may be subject to regulatory investigations and sanctions for inappropriate or illegal content that is accessed through our search results.” We also place advertisements on third-party Internet properties, and we offer products and services developed or created by third parties. We may be subject to claims concerning these products and services based on our involvement in providing access to them, even if we do not offer the products and services directly. We could be required to spend considerable financial and managerial resources defending any such claims, and they could result in our having to pay monetary damages or penalties or ceasing certain aspects of our business, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Privacy concerns or security breaches relating to our platforms could damage our reputation, deter current and potential users and advertisers from using our products and services, and expose us to legal penalties and liability.

We collect, process, and store on our servers significant amounts of data concerning our users. While we have taken steps to protect our user data, our security measures could be compromised, because techniques used to sabotage or obtain unauthorized access to systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until they are launched against a target, and we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. In addition, we are subject to various regulatory requirements relating to the security and privacy of such data, including restrictions on the collection and use of personal information of users and steps we must take to prevent personal data from being divulged, stolen, or tampered with. Regulatory requirements regarding the protection of such data are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change, making the extent of our responsibility in that regard uncertain. For example, the PRC Cybersecurity Law became effective in June 2017, but it is unclear as to the circumstances and standard under which the law would apply and violations would be found, and there are great uncertainties as to the interpretation and application of the law. It is possible that our data protection practice is or will be inconsistent with regulatory requirements. See “PRC Regulation—Provision of Internet Content—Information Security and Censorship.” In addition, the PRC government may promulgate new laws or regulations regarding the protection of personal data. For example, on May 28, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued for public comment draft Administrative Measures for Data Security and on August 16, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued for public comment a draft Data Security Law (such draft administrative measures and draft law together, the “Draft Data Security Laws”), which purport to regulate the collection, storage, transmission, processing, and usage of data and other related data activities within China, but it is unclear whether and/or when the Draft Data Security Laws will be enacted. On October 21, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued for public comment a draft Personal Information Protection Law (the “Draft Personal Information Protection Law”), which purports to regulate the collection, transmission, processing, and usage of personal information, the processing of sensitive personal information, and the cross-border provision of personal information and includes other relevant rules and regulations, but it is unclear whether and/or when the Draft Personal Information Protection Law will be enacted. If current or future laws and regulations are interpreted and applied in a manner that limits or prohibits any of our current practices, or if additional or different requirements are imposed by these laws and regulations, complying with such interpretations, applications, and requirements could cause us to incur substantial expenses or require us to alter our practices in a manner that could harm our business. We cannot assure you that our existing user information protection systems and technical measures will be considered sufficient under current and future applicable laws and regulations. Any systems failure or compromise of our security, including through employee error, that results in the release of our user data could seriously harm our reputation and brand, impair our ability to retain and attract users and advertisers, expose us to liability to users whose data is released, and subject us to sanctions and penalties from governmental authorities. We also could be liable for any security breaches of our advertisers’ confidential information. Any security breaches exposing such information could damage our reputation and deter current and potential users and advertisers from using our services.

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Our network operations may be vulnerable to hacking and viruses, which may reduce the use of our products and services and expose us to liability.

Our user traffic may decline if any well-publicized compromise of security occurs. “Hacking” involves efforts to gain unauthorized access to information or systems or to cause intentional malfunctions or loss or corruption of data, software, hardware, or other computer equipment. Techniques used by hackers to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, which means that we may be unable to anticipate new hacking methods or implement adequate security measures. Hackers, if successful, could misappropriate proprietary information or cause disruptions in our service. We may be required to expend capital and other resources to protect our Internet platforms against hackers, and measures we may take may not be effective. In addition, the inadvertent transmission of computer viruses could expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability, as well as damage our reputation and decrease our user traffic.

Our business may be adversely affected by third-party software applications or practices that interfere with our receipt of information from, or provision of information to, our users, which may impair our users’ experience.

Our business may be adversely affected by third-party software applications, which may be unintentional or malicious, that make changes to our users’ PCs or mobile devices and interfere with our products and services. These software applications may change our users’ experience by hijacking queries, altering or replacing our search results, or otherwise interfering with our ability to connect with our users. Such interference can occur without disclosure to or consent from users, and users may associate any resulting negative experience with our products and services. Such software applications are often designed to be difficult to remove, block, or disable. Further, software loaded on or added to mobile devices on which our search or other applications, such as Sogou Input Method, are pre-installed may be incompatible with or interfere with or prevent the operation of such applications, which might deter the owners of such devices from using our services.

In addition, third-party website owners, content providers, and developers may implement applications and systems that interfere with our ability to crawl and index their webpages and content, which is critical to the operation of our search services. If we are unable to successfully prevent or limit any such applications or systems that interfere with our products and services, or if a significant number of third-party website owners, content providers, and developers prevent us from indexing and including their webpages and content in our search results, our ability to deliver high-quality search results and a satisfactory user experience will be impeded.

Adoption of Internet advertisement blocking technologies may have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

The development of software that blocks Internet advertisements before they appear on a user’s screen may hinder the growth of online advertising. Since our advertising revenues are generally based on user click-throughs, the expansion of advertisement-blocking on the Internet may decrease our advertising revenues, because when advertisements are blocked they are not downloaded from the server, which means such advertisements will not be tracked as a delivered advertisement. In addition, advertisers may choose not to advertise on the Internet or on or through our sites because of the use by third parties of Internet advertisement blocking measures. In addition, increasing numbers of browsers include technical barriers designed to prevent Internet information service providers such as us to track the browsing history of their Internet users, which is also likely to adversely affect the growth of online advertising and hence our business and growth prospects.

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If we fail to detect click-through fraud, we could lose the confidence of our advertisers and our revenues could decline.

Our business is exposed to the risk of click-through fraud on our paid search results. Click-through fraud occurs when a person clicks paid search results for a reason other than to view the underlying content of search results. If we fail to detect significant fraudulent clicks or otherwise are unable to prevent significant fraudulent activity, the affected search advertisers may experience a reduced return on their investment in our pay-for-click services and lose confidence in the integrity of our pay-for-click service systems, and we may have to issue refunds to our advertisers and may lose their future business. If this happens, we may be unable to retain existing advertisers and attract new advertisers for our pay-for-click services, and our search revenues could decline. In addition, affected advertisers may also file legal actions against us claiming that we have over-charged or failed to refund them. Any such claims or similar claims, regardless of their merit, could be time-consuming and costly for us to defend against and could also adversely affect our brand and our search advertisers’ confidence in the integrity of our pay-for-click services and systems.

Web spam and content farms, as well as our attempts to block them, could decrease the quality of our search results, and could deter our current and potential users from using our products and services.

The proliferation of search engine spam websites, commonly referred to as Web spam, which attempt to manipulate search indexing to cause them to appear higher in search results ranking hierarchies than they would without such manipulation, can have the effect of weakening the integrity of our search results and causing users to lose confidence in our search products and services. “Content farm” websites, which commission very large amounts of content, often of low quality, for the purpose, similar to that of Web spam, of causing such content farms’ links to obtain relatively high ranking in Internet providers’ search results, can have similar adverse effects.

While we use, and continually improve, technology designed to detect and block Web spam, the algorithms we apply may nevertheless result in excessive filtering that blocks desirable websites from our search results. Therefore, both the existence of Web spam and content farms, and our attempts to block them, could deter our current and potential users from using our products and services. In addition, as some of our third-party Internet-property collaborators could include Web spam or content farm websites, our advertising revenues could be reduced by our efforts to filter such websites. If our efforts to combat these and other types of index spamming are unsuccessful, our reputation for delivering relevant information could be diminished. This could result in a decline in user traffic, which would damage our business.

The successful operation of our business depends upon the performance and reliability of the Internet infrastructure in China.

Our growth will depend in part on the PRC government and state-owned telecommunications services providers maintaining and expanding Internet and telecommunications infrastructure, standards, protocols, and complementary products and services to facilitate our reaching a broader base of Internet users in China.

Almost all access to the Internet in China is maintained through China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT. We rely on this infrastructure and China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom to provide data communications capacity primarily through local telecommunications lines. Although the government has announced aggressive plans to develop the national information infrastructure, this infrastructure may not be developed and the Internet infrastructure in China may not be able to support the continued growth of Internet usage. In addition, we will be unlikely to have access to alternative networks and services on a timely basis, if at all, in the event of any infrastructure disruption or failure.

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Interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems may result in reduced user traffic and harm to our reputation and business.

Interruption or failure of any of our information technology and communications systems or those of the operators of third-party Internet properties with which we collaborate could impede or prevent our ability to provide our search and search-related services. In addition, our operations are vulnerable to natural disasters and other events. Our disaster recovery plan for our servers cannot fully ensure safety in the event of damage from fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, hacking, and similar events. If any of the foregoing occurs, we may experience a partial or complete system shutdown. Furthermore, our servers, which are hosted at third-party Internet data centers, are also vulnerable to break-ins, sabotage and vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning does not account for all possible scenarios. The occurrence of a natural disaster or a closure of an Internet data center by a third-party provider without adequate notice could result in lengthy service interruptions.

Any system failure or inadequacy that causes interruptions in the availability of our services, or increases the response time of our services, could have an adverse impact on our users’ experience and reduce our users’ satisfaction, our attractiveness to users and advertisers, and future user traffic and advertising on our platform.

Furthermore, we do not carry any business interruption insurance. To improve the performance and to prevent disruption of our services, we may have to make substantial investments to deploy additional servers or one or more copies of our Internet platforms to mirror our online resources.

We face risks related to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and health epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our business has been and could in the future be adversely affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, and tsunamis; terrorist attacks and other acts of violence or war; social instability; recurrences of outbreaks of previous health epidemics such as avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (or “SARS”), the Zika virus, and the Ebola virus; or new outbreaks of health epidemics. COVID-19 spread rapidly in 2020 to become a worldwide pandemic. The outbreak had a significant negative impact on the Chinese economy, and on the worldwide economy as a whole, and, in particular, on advertiser spending in the China market in which we operate. This caused during 2020, and could continue to cause, an adverse impact on our advertising revenues by causing our advertisers to curtail their spending on online advertising. In addition, some of our advertising customers required additional time to pay us, and such trends may continue during 2021. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our results of operations will depend on future developments, including the possibility of a resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, which remain uncertain and difficult to predict.

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Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements, we operate a portion of our business through our primary VIE, Beijing Sogou Information Service Co., Ltd. (“Sogou Information”), a company with which we have contractual relationships but in which we do not have an actual ownership interest, and its direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. If these contractual arrangements and our current ownership structure were found to be in violation of current or future PRC laws and regulations we could be subject to severe penalties.

Various regulations in the PRC restrict or prohibit foreign-owned companies from operating in specified industries, such as the provision of Internet information, online games, mobile applications, Internet access, and certain other industries. As we are a Cayman Islands company and our direct and indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries Sogou (BVI) Limited, or Sogou BVI, Sogou Hong Kong Limited, or Sogou HK, and Vast Creation Advertising Media Services Limited, or Vast Creation, are incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, our indirect wholly-owned PRC subsidiaries, Beijing Sogou Technology Development Co., Ltd. (“Sogou Technology”), and Beijing Sogou Network Technology Co., Ltd. (“Sogou Network”), are wholly foreign-owned enterprises (“WFOEs”) under PRC law and are considered to be foreign-owned. In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements, we conduct certain of our Internet and other value-added telecommunication operations in the PRC through our VIE Sogou Information, which is incorporated in the PRC and is owned 10% by our Chief Executive Officer, 45% by our controlling shareholder Sohu, and 45% by a Tencent group entity; and through direct and indirect subsidiaries of Sogou Information, which are also considered to be our VIEs. Through a series of contractual arrangements, Sogou Information, of which we are the primary beneficiary, and Sogou Information’s direct and indirect subsidiaries are effectively controlled by our subsidiary Sogou Technology. Revenues generated by our VIEs represented 37.7%, 42.8% and 40.6%, respectively, of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

In addition, pursuant to Circular 6 and the Ministry of Commerce (the “MOFCOM”) Security Review Rules, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns and prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements, or offshore transactions. These national security review-related regulations are relatively new and there is a lack of clear statutory interpretation regarding the implementation of the rules. PRC governmental authorities may interpret these regulations to mean that the transactions implementing our VIE structures should have been submitted for review. For a discussion of these PRC national security review requirements, see “PRC Regulation—Regulation of M&A and Overseas Listings.”

In the opinion of Commerce & Finance Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel, our current ownership structure, the ownership structure of our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs (excluding the Consolidated Trust), and the contractual arrangements between our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs (excluding the Consolidated Trust) and their shareholders are not in violation of existing PRC laws, rules, and regulations. Our PRC legal counsel also advises us that there are uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Accordingly, we and our PRC legal counsel cannot assure you that PRC governmental authorities will not ultimately take a view contrary to that of our PRC legal counsel. If we were found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations relating to foreign ownership of value-added telecommunications businesses, online search services, online games, other online information and content services, and security reviews of foreign investments in such businesses, governmental authorities with jurisdiction over the operation of our business would have broad discretion in dealing with such a violation, including levying fines, confiscating our income, revoking the business or operating licenses of our PRC subsidiaries and/or VIEs, requiring us to restructure our ownership structure or operations, requiring us to discontinue or divest ourselves of all or any portion of our operations or assets, restricting our right to collect revenues, blocking our Internet platforms, or imposing additional conditions or requirements with which we may not be able to comply. Any of these actions could cause significant disruption to our business operations and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Further, if changes were required to be made to our ownership structure, our ability to consolidate our VIEs’ assets and operating results into our consolidated financial statements could be adversely affected.

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We depend upon contractual arrangements with our VIE Sogou Information and its shareholders for the success of our business and these arrangements may not be as effective in providing operational control as direct ownership of the entities and may be difficult to enforce.

Due to the restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership over online search services, online games operations and other value-added telecommunication business in the PRC, we depend on our VIEs, in which we have no direct ownership interest, to provide those services through contractual agreements with our VIE Sogou Information and to hold some of our assets, including some of the domain names and trademarks relating to our business. These arrangements may not be as effective in providing control over our business operations as would direct ownership of our VIEs. For example, if we had direct ownership of our VIEs, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to effect changes in their boards of directors, which in turn could effect changes at the management level. Due to our VIE structure, we have to rely on contractual rights to affect control and management of our VIEs, which exposes us to the risk of potential breach of VIE contracts by the VIEs or their shareholders, such as their failing to use the domain names and trademarks held by them, or failing to maintain our Internet platforms, in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests. In addition, as our VIE Sogou Information is jointly owned by its shareholders, it may be difficult for us to change our corporate structure if such shareholders refuse to cooperate with us. In addition, some of our subsidiaries and VIEs could fail to take actions required for our business, such as entering into business contracts with potential suppliers or failing to maintain the necessary permits for the business. Furthermore, if the shareholders of Sogou Information were involved in proceedings that had an adverse impact on their shareholder interests in Sogou Information or on our ability to enforce relevant contracts related to the VIE structure, our overall business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The shareholders of Sogou Information may breach, or cause Sogou Information to breach, the VIE contracts for a number of reasons. For example, their interests as shareholders of Sogou Information and the interests of our subsidiaries may conflict and we may fail to resolve such conflicts; the shareholders may believe that breaching the contracts will lead to greater economic benefit for them; or the shareholders may otherwise act in bad faith. If any of the foregoing were to happen, we may have to rely on legal or arbitral proceedings to enforce our contractual rights. In addition, disputes may arise among the shareholders of Sogou Information with respect to their ownership of Sogou Information, which could lead them to breach their agreements with us. Such arbitral and legal proceedings and disputes may cost us substantial financial and other resources, and result in disruption of our business, and the outcome might not be in our favor. For example, a PRC court or arbitration panel could conclude that our VIE contracts violate PRC laws or are otherwise unenforceable. If the contractual arrangements with Sogou Information were found by PRC governmental authorities with appropriate jurisdiction to be unenforceable, we could lose control over the assets owned by Sogou Information and our other VIEs and lose our ability to consolidate such VIEs’ results of operations, assets, and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements and/or to transfer the revenues of our VIEs to our corresponding PRC subsidiary Sogou Technology. In addition, such a finding of unenforceability by PRC authorities could cause more than 75% of our gross income or more than 50% of our assets to be passive in the year that this finding was made or in subsequent years, which, in a given year for which we otherwise did not expect to be classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for United States federal income tax purposes, could cause us to be classified as a PFIC for years in which we would not otherwise be so classified. See “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company” in Item 10 of this annual report.

As all of the contractual arrangements with Sogou Information and its shareholders are governed by PRC laws and provide for the resolution of disputes through either arbitration or litigation in the PRC, they would be interpreted in accordance with PRC laws and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. We would have to rely for enforcement on legal remedies under PRC laws, including specific performance, injunctive relief, or damages, which might not be effective. For example, if we sought to enforce the equity interest purchase right agreement for the transfer of equity interests in Sogou Information, if the transferee was a foreign company the transfer would be subject to approval by PRC governmental authorities such as the MIIT and the MOFCOM, and the transferee would be required to comply with various requirements, including qualification and maximum foreign shareholding percentage requirements. As these PRC governmental authorities have wide discretion in granting such approvals, we could fail to obtain such approvals. In addition, our VIE contracts might not be enforceable in China if PRC governmental authorities, courts or arbitral tribunals took the view that such contracts contravened PRC laws or were otherwise not enforceable for public policy reasons.

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Furthermore, the legal environment in the PRC is not as developed as in other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could further limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In the event we were unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, we would not be able to exert effective control over our VIEs, and our ability to conduct our business, and our financial condition and results of operation would be severely adversely affected.

The contractual arrangements between our subsidiary Sogou Technology and our VIE Sogou Information may result in adverse tax consequences to us.

PRC laws and regulations emphasize the requirement of an arm’s-length basis for transfer pricing arrangements between related parties. The laws and regulations also require enterprises with related party transactions to prepare transfer pricing documentation to demonstrate the basis for determining pricing, the computation methodology and detailed explanations. Related party arrangements and transactions may be subject to challenge or tax inspection by PRC tax authorities.

Under a tax inspection, if our transfer pricing arrangements between our China-based subsidiary Sogou Technology and our VIE Sogou Information are judged as tax avoidance, or related documentation does not meet the requirements for such arrangements, Sogou Information and Sogou Technology may be subject to adverse tax consequences, such as a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could result in a reduction, for PRC tax purposes, of adjustments recorded by Sogou Information, which could adversely affect us by (i) increasing Sogou Information’s tax liabilities without reducing Sogou Technology’s tax liabilities, which could further result in interest and penalties being levied on us for unpaid taxes or (ii) limiting the ability of our PRC companies to maintain preferential tax treatment and other financial incentives. In addition, if for any reason we need to cause the transfer of any of the shareholders’ equity interest in any Sogou Information to a different nominee shareholder, we might be required to pay individual income tax, on behalf of the transferring shareholder, on any gain deemed to have been realized by such shareholder on such transfer.

If one or more of our VIEs declare bankruptcy or become subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding, we may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by those VIEs.

Our VIEs hold assets, such as our core intellectual property, licenses, and permits, that are critical to our business operations. Although the equity interest purchase rights agreement among our PRC subsidiaries, our VIE Sogou Information, and the shareholders of Sogou Information contains terms that specifically obligate such shareholders to ensure the valid existence of Sogou Information and our other VIEs, in the event these shareholders breached their obligations and voluntarily liquidated our VIEs, or if any of our VIEs declared bankruptcy and all or part of its assets became subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, we might be unable to continue some or all of our business operations. Furthermore, if any of our VIEs were to undergo a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, their shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors might claim rights to some or all of such VIEs’ assets and their rights could be senior to our rights under the VIE contracts with Sogou Information, which could hinder our ability to operate our business.

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Risks Related to China’s Regulatory and Economic Environment

PRC regulations relating to sponsored search have had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our results of operations.

On April 13, 2016, the State Administration of Market Regulation (“SAMR”) and sixteen other PRC government agencies jointly issued a Notice of Campaign to Crack Down on Illegal Internet Finance Advertisements and Other Financial Activities in the Name of Investment Management, or the Campaign Notice, pursuant to which a campaign was conducted between April 2016 and January 2017 targeting, among other things, online advertisements for Internet finance and other financial activities posted on online search portals such as ours. The Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAOC, issued the Measures for the Administration of Online Information Search Services, which became effective on August 1, 2016 and require that providers of online search services verify the credentials of pay-for-click advertisers, specify a maximum percentage that pay-for-click search results may represent of results on a search page, and require that providers of search services conspicuously identify pay-for-click search results as such. The SAMR issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Advertising, or (the “SAMR Interim Measures”), which became effective on September 1, 2016 and treat pay-for-click search results as advertisements subject to PRC laws governing advertisements, require that pay-for-click search results be conspicuously identified on search result pages as advertisements and subject revenues from such advertisements to a 3% PRC tax that is applied to advertising revenues. In order to comply with these regulations, we have established more stringent standards for selecting advertisers for our pay-for-click services and have turned down certain existing advertisers, and have lowered the percentage that pay-for-click search results represent of results on our search pages, which had an adverse impact on our search and search-related revenues and overall results of operations for 2016 and, along with the tax on advertising, are likely to continue to have such an impact. We cannot assure you that PRC governmental authorities will not issue new laws or regulations specifically regulating sponsored search services, which could further impact our revenues.

Political, economic, and social policies of the PRC government could affect our business.

Substantially all of our business, operating assets, fixed assets and operations are located in China, and substantially all of our revenues are derived from our operations in China. Accordingly, our business may be adversely affected by changes in political, economic or social conditions in China, adjustments in PRC government policies or changes in laws and regulations.

The economy of China differs from the economies of most countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a number of respects, including:

Since 1949, China has been primarily a planned economy subject to a system of macroeconomic management. Although the PRC government still owns a significant portion of the productive assets in China, economic reform policies since the late 1970s have emphasized decentralization, autonomous enterprises and the utilization of market mechanisms. We cannot predict the future effects of the economic reform and macroeconomic measures adopted by the PRC government on our business or results of operations. Furthermore, the PRC government began to focus more attention on social issues in recent years and has promulgated or may promulgate additional laws or regulations in this area, which could affect our business in China.

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While the Chinese economy has grown significantly over the past thirty years, the growth has been uneven geographically among various sectors of the economy, and during different periods. The Chinese economy may not continue to grow, and if there is growth, such growth may not be steady and uniform; if there is a slowdown, such a slowdown may have a negative effect on our business. The Chinese economy experienced high inflation in 2010 and 2011, and to curb the accelerating inflation the People’s Bank of China (the “PBOC”), China’s central bank, raised benchmark interest rates three times in 2011. The level of exports from the PRC also declined significantly recently. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the growth rate of China’s gross domestic product (“GDP”), compared to that of the same period in the previous year, slowed from 6.9% in 2017, to 6.6% in 2018, to 6.0% in 2019, and to 2.3% in 2020. Various macroeconomic measures and monetary policies adopted by the PRC government to guide economic growth and manage inflation and the allocation of resources may not be effective in sustaining the growth rate of the Chinese economy. In addition, such measures, even if they benefit the overall Chinese economy in the long run, may have an adverse effect on us if they reduce the amount of money that our existing or future advertisers devote to online advertising.

The PRC legal system embodies uncertainties that could limit the legal protections available to us and you, or could lead to penalties on us.

The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes and regulations. Unlike common law systems, it is a system in which decided legal cases have little precedential value. In 1979, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations governing economic matters in general. Our PRC operating subsidiaries Sogou Technology and Sogou Network are WFOEs that are incorporated in China and wholly owned by our indirect offshore subsidiaries. As WFOEs, Sogou Technology and Sogou Network are subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign investment in China. All of our subsidiaries and VIEs incorporated in China are also subject to all other applicable PRC laws and regulations. Because of the relatively short period for enacting such a comprehensive legal system, it is possible that the laws, regulations and legal requirements are relatively recent, and their interpretation and enforcement involve uncertainties. These uncertainties could limit the legal protections available to us and other foreign investors, including you. Such uncertainties may also make it easier for others to infringe our intellectual property without significant cost, and new entrants to the market may tend to use gray areas to compete with us. In addition, uncertainties in the PRC legal system may lead to penalties imposed on us because of a difference in interpretation of the applicable laws between the relevant PRC governmental authorities and us. For example, under current tax laws and regulations, we are responsible for paying value-added tax. However, since there is no clear guidance as to the applicability of certain areas of preferential tax treatment, we may be found to be in violation of the tax laws and regulations based on the interpretation of competent PRC tax authorities with regard to the scope of taxable services and the applicable tax rates, and therefore might be subject to penalties, including monetary penalties. In addition, we cannot predict the effect of future developments in the PRC legal system, particularly with regard to the Internet, including the promulgation of new laws, changes to existing laws or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, or the preemption of local regulations by national laws.

The enforcement of the PRC Labor Contract Law and other labor-related regulations in the PRC may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the Labor Contract Law in 2007, and amended it on December 28, 2012. The Labor Contract Law introduced specific provisions related to fixed-term employment contracts, part-time employment, probationary periods, consultation with labor unions and employee assemblies, employment without a written contract, dismissal of employees, severance, and collective bargaining to enhance previous PRC labor laws. Under the Labor Contract Law, an employer is obligated to sign an unlimited-term labor contract with any employee who has worked for the employer for ten consecutive years. Further, if an employee requests or agrees to renew a fixed-term labor contract that has already been entered into twice consecutively, the resulting contract, with certain exceptions, must have an unlimited term, subject to certain exceptions. With certain exceptions, an employer must pay severance to an employee where a labor contract is terminated or expires. In addition, PRC governmental authorities have continued to introduce various new labor-related regulations since the effectiveness of the Labor Contract Law.

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Under the PRC Social Insurance Law and the Administrative Measures on Housing Fund, employees are required to participate in pension insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, and housing funds and employers are required, together with their employees or separately, to pay the social insurance premiums and housing funds for their employees. If we fail to make adequate social insurance and housing fund contributions, we may be subject to fines and legal sanctions, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

These laws designed to enhance labor protection tend to increase our labor costs. In addition, as the interpretation and implementation of these regulations are still evolving, our employment practices may not be at all times be deemed in compliance with the regulations. As a result, we could be subject to penalties or incur significant liabilities in connection with labor disputes or investigations.

If we are found to be in violation of current or future PRC laws and regulations regarding Internet-related services and telecom-related activities, we could be subject to penalties or restrictions on our business activities.

The PRC has enacted laws and regulations that apply to Internet-related services and telecom-related activities. While many aspects of these regulations remain unclear, they purport to require licenses on various aspects of the provision of Internet information and content, such as online video and music, online games, online publishing, and newsfeed services.

Although we do not directly provide video and music content, our video and music link-aggregation services may be considered to be the provision of Internet audio-visual programs, which would require us to obtain an Internet audio-visual program transmission license. None of our VIEs currently holds such a license. In addition, current PRC laws and regulations require an applicant for an Internet audio-visual program transmission license to be a wholly state-owned or state-controlled entity unless the applicant had been operating a business involving transmission of Internet audio-visual programs prior to December 20, 2007. None of our VIEs currently is an eligible applicant for such a license, as none of them was operating Internet audio-visual services prior to December 20, 2007. If our video and music link-aggregation services were found to violate the applicable laws and regulations, we could be subject to fines, forced to remove all of the audio-visual links from our platform, and subject to a penalty equal to one to two times our total investment in the affected business. As of the date of this annual report, we are in the process of negotiating to acquire an entity that holds a valid Internet audio-visual program transmission license. Such negotiation is at a preliminary stage, and there is no assurance that we will be able to reach a deal on commercially reasonable terms in a timely manner, or at all. Furthermore, there is no assurance that such a practice will not be restricted or prohibited by future laws and regulations.

Current PRC laws and regulations require us to obtain an Internet publishing license for our online literature services and Sogou Ask. An Internet publishing license may also be required for our image search services and the distribution of online games through our Sogou Game Center, as these services may be considered to be “online publication services,” which require an Internet publishing license under current PRC laws and regulations. None of our VIEs currently holds such a license. In addition, none of our VIEs currently holds an online news service license, which is required for our news search and newsfeed services. Operating without an Internet publishing license and an online news service license may subject us to various administrative sanctions, including fines and suspension of our relevant services. We are in the process of preparing an application for an Internet publishing license as of the date of this annual report. While PRC laws and regulations require relevant governmental authorities to decide on an application for the Internet publishing license within 60 days after receiving a completed application, and we believe that we meet the qualifications for obtaining such a license, the approval process may take longer in practice, and we may not be able to receive approval for the license in a timely manner, or at all. As of the date of this annual report, we are also in the process of preparing applications for an online news search license. However, it appears that the competent governmental authority may not currently be accepting new applications for online news search licenses, except applications for the renewal of licenses previously obtained. We plan to submit an application for an online news search license as soon as it becomes clear that the competent governmental authority is accepting new applications. However, uncertainties remain as to when the relevant governmental authority will begin to accept new applications for online news search licenses and, even after we have submitted an application if and when the governmental authority begins to accept applications, there is no assurance that we will be granted the license in a timely manner, or at all.

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In February 2021, the SAMR issued the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector (the “Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector”), which provide guidance on competition and compliance for companies operating in Internet-related businesses. While we do not expect that the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector and related regulations will have a material impact on our business and results of operations, such regulations may increase our compliance burden in our already highly-regulated industry. Further, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector are indications of the State Council’s and the SAMR’s continual enhancement of anti-monopoly law enforcement and supervision of internet platform operators.

Although we are committed to complying with the above-described PRC laws and regulations applicable to Internet-related service and telecom-related activities, we cannot guarantee that we are now or will in the future be in full compliance with any such laws and regulations that apply to our services and activities. In the past, PRC governmental authorities have imposed warnings and fines on us for conducting business without the aforementioned licenses. We cannot guarantee that PRC governmental authorities will not impose similar or greater penalties on us in the future, which may include warnings, fines, mandates to remedy any violations, and/or cease providing all services and activities for which the licenses are required. The PRC government may also promulgate new laws and regulations that require additional licenses, permits and/or approvals for the operation of any of our existing and/or future businesses. If we are unable to obtain such licenses, permits, and/or approvals in a timely fashion, we could be subject to further penalties and operational disruption and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may not have conducted our online lending and microcredit business in accorandance with PRC laws, rules, regulations, and governmental policies.

PRC laws, rules, regulations, and governmental policies governing the online lending industry and microcredit businesses are at a relatively early stage, and can be expected to continue to evolve. Although we have not issued new loans to borrowers since September 30, 2020 and while we were issuing loans we implemented measures intended to comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations regarding the online lending industry and microcredit businesses, due to the lack of clear interpretation and rules regarding the implementation of such laws and regulations, the measures we took may not have been sufficient to ensure such compliance. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in our being subject to, among other things, regulatory warnings, fines, or criminal penalties. See “PRC Regulation-Regulation of Online Lending and Microcredit Services.”

The Notice on Regulating and Rectifying the “Cash Loan” Business (“Circular 141”), issued jointly by the Head Office for Special Rectification against Internet Finance Risks and the Head Office for Special Rectification against Peer-to-Peer Online Lending Risks on December 1, 2017, stipulates that a banking financial institution that offers cash loans through loan facilitation is prohibited from (i) accepting credit enhancement or other similar services from third parties that lack requisite licenses to provide guarantees; (ii) outsourcing credit assessment, risk control, and other key functions to a loan facilitation operator; and (iii) allowing the loan facilitation operator to charge any interest or fees from the borrower. On October 9, 2019, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (the “CBIRC”), together with other eight governmental authorities, promulgated the Notice of the Promulgation of Supplementary Provisions for the Supervision and Administration of Financing Guarantee Companies (“CBIRC Circular 37”), which states that institutions that provide services such as customer recommendations and evaluation of credit to lending institutions may not provide financial guarantee services without approval of regulatory authorities. Based on our understanding of industry practice, we do not believe that our operation of our online lending and microcredit loan facilitation business consisted of the operation of a financial guarantee business. However, due to a lack of sufficient interpretation of Circular 141 and CBIRC Circular 37, the exact definition and scope of operating a financial guarantee business remain unclear. If we were deemed to have been operating a financial guarantee business in violation of Circular 141 and CBIRC Circular 37, we could be subject to penalties, sanctions, and other liabilities.

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In addition, the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning Laws Applicable to Trials of Private Lending Cases (the “Private Lending Judicial Interpretations”), which were issued by the Supreme People’s Court effective September 1, 2015, (i) prohibit loans with interest rates exceeding 36% per annum, and provide that any excess paid must be returned to the borrower and (ii) provide that loans with interest rates between 24% and 36% per annum are generally permissible as long as they do not damage the interests of the state, the community, or any third parties other than the borrower. For loans we extended or facilitated prior to September 30, 2020, if PRC governmental authorities or courts were to determine that any of such loans had an interest rate exceeding 24% per annum, we may not be able to collect the portion of the interest deemed to exceed 24%. Further, on August 19, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court promulgated the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning Laws Applicable to Trials of Private Lending Cases (Revised in 2020), which were revised on December 29, 2020 (as amended, the “Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations”). The Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations provide that, beginning August 20, 2020, PRC courts will not enforce the collection of interest on one-year loans to the extent that the interest exceeds four times the prime rate for one-year loans published by the National Interbank Funding Center. In addition, the Reply of the Supreme People’s Court to the Application of Law to the Provisions Applicable to Private Lending Cases promulgated by the Supreme People’s Court on December 29, 2020 stipulates that microcredit companies are financial institutions established with the approval of the financial regulatory authorities and that the Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations are not directly applicable to the loan business of microcredit companies. However, it remains uncertain whether PRC courts will use the Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations for reference in the future. As a result, if the one-year loans that we extended or facilitated on or after August 20, 2020 carry interest that exceeds the specified limit and the courts determine that our loan business is subject to the Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations, we may not be able to recover the amount of the excess.

The approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (the “CSRC”) may have been required in connection with our corporate structure and our initial public offering, and the failure to obtain any required approval could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations and the trading price of our ADSs.

In 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the MOFCOM and the CSRC, jointly adopted the Rules on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, which became effective on September 8, 2006 and were amended on June 22, 2009. See “PRC Regulation—Regulation of M&A and Overseas Listings.” Under the M&A Rules, the prior approval of the CSRC is required for the overseas listing of offshore special purpose vehicles that are directly or indirectly controlled by PRC companies or individuals and used for the purpose of listing PRC onshore interests on an overseas stock exchange. The application of the M&A Rules remains unclear. Currently, there is no consensus among the leading PRC law firms regarding the scope and applicability of the CSRC approval requirement. Our PRC legal counsel, Commerce & Finance Law Offices, has advised us that based on its understanding of the current PRC laws, rules and regulations and the M&A Rules, prior approval from the CSRC was not required under the M&A Rules for the listing and trading of our ADSs because, among other reasons, (i) Sogou Technology and Sogou Network were incorporated as wholly foreign-owned enterprises by means of direct investment rather than by merger or acquisition of equity interest or assets of a PRC domestic company owned by PRC companies or individuals as defined under the M&A Rules that are the beneficial owners of the Company; and (ii) no provision in the M&A Rules clearly classifies contractual arrangements as a type of transaction subject to the M&A Rules. Although we did not apply for approval from the CSRC for our initial public offering based on the advice of our PRC legal counsel, we and our PRC legal counsel cannot assure you that the relevant PRC government agencies, including the MOFCOM and the CSRC, would not reach a different conclusion.

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Commerce & Finance Law Offices has further advised us that uncertainties still exist as to how the M&A Rules will be interpreted and implemented and its opinions summarized above are subject to any current or future laws, rules and regulations or detailed implementations and interpretations in any form relating to the M&A Rules. If the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agency subsequently determines that we needed to obtain CSRC approval for our initial public offering, either by interpretation, clarification, or amendment of the M&A Rules or by any new rules, regulations, or directives promulgated after the date of this annual report, we may face sanctions by the CSRC or other PRC regulatory agency. These sanctions may include fines and penalties on our operations in China, limitations on our operating privileges in China, delays or restrictions on the repatriation of the proceeds from our initial public offering into the PRC, restrictions on or prohibition of the payment or remittance of dividends by our China-based subsidiaries, or other actions that could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations, as well as the trading price of our ADSs. We cannot predict when the CSRC will promulgate additional rules or other guidance. Moreover, additional rules or guidance, to the extent issued, may fail to resolve ambiguities under the M&A Rules. Uncertainties or negative publicity regarding the M&A Rules also could have an adverse effect on the trading price of our ADSs.

PRC laws and regulations mandate complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to make acquisitions in China.

PRC laws and regulations, such as the M&A Rules, and other relevant rules, established additional procedures and requirements that are expected to make merger and acquisition activities in China by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, or that the approval from the MOFCOM be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or residents acquire affiliated domestic companies. PRC laws and regulations also require certain merger and acquisition transactions to be subject to a merger control security review. In August 2011, the MOFCOM promulgated the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System, or MOFCOM Security Review Rules, effective from September 1, 2011, further provide that, when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition of a domestic enterprise by foreign investors is subject to a security review by the MOFCOM, the principle of substance over form should be applied and foreign investors are prohibited from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements of offshore transaction. Factors that the MOFCOM considers in its review are whether (i) an important industry is involved, (ii) such transaction involves factors that have had or may have an impact on national economic security and (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise that holds a well-known PRC trademark or a time-honored PRC brand. If a business of any target company that we plan to acquire falls into the ambit of security review, we may not be able to successfully acquire such company. Complying with the requirements of the relevant regulations to complete any such transaction could be time-consuming, and any required approval process, including approval from the MOFCOM, may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business.

We entered into a series of transactions with Tencent in 2013 that resulted in Tencent being our largest shareholder and a Tencent group entity also holding a 45% interest in Sogou Information. If Tencent’s investment in us ended due to competitive or regulatory reasons, our collaboration with Tencent may also be adversely affected.

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The PRC government may prevent us from distributing, and we may be subject to liability for, content that it believes is inappropriate.

The PRC has enacted regulations governing Internet access and the distribution of news and other information. In the past, the PRC government has stopped the distribution of information over the Internet that it believes to violate PRC laws, including content that is obscene, incites violence, endangers national security, is contrary to the national interest or is defamatory. In addition, we may not publish certain news items, such as news relating to national security, without permission from the PRC government. Furthermore, the Ministry of Public Security has the authority to make any local Internet service provider block any Website maintained outside the PRC at its sole discretion. Even if we comply with PRC governmental regulations relating to licensing and foreign investment prohibitions, if the PRC government were to take any action to limit or prohibit the distribution of information through our network or to limit or regulate any current or future content or services available to users on our network, our business would be harmed.

We are also subject to potential liabilities for content delivered through our services that is deemed inappropriate and for any unlawful actions of users of our products and services under regulations promulgated by the MIIT, such potential liabilities including the imposition of fines or even the shutting down of the Internet platforms.

Furthermore, we are required to delete content that clearly violates PRC laws and report content that may violate PRC laws. We may have difficulty determining the type of content that may result in liability for us and, if we are wrong, we may be prevented from operating our Internet platforms.

Dividends we receive from our operating subsidiaries located in the PRC are subject to PRC profit appropriation and PRC withholding tax.

PRC legal restrictions permit payment of dividends by our PRC subsidiaries only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Under PRC law, our PRC subsidiaries are also required to set aside 10% of their after-tax profits each year to fund certain reserve funds until these reserves equal 50% of the amount of registered capital. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends.

Furthermore, the PRC Corporate Income Tax Law, or the CIT Law, provides that a withholding tax at a rate of up to 10% may be applicable to dividends payable to non-PRC investors that are “non-resident enterprises,” to the extent that such dividends are derived from sources within the PRC. Under the Arrangement Between the PRC and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income (the “China-HK Tax Arrangement”), which became effective on January 1, 2007, the dividend withholding tax rate may be reduced to 5% if a Hong Kong resident enterprise is considered a non-PRC resident enterprise and holds at least 25% of the equity interests in the PRC enterprise distributing the dividends, subject to approval of the competent PRC tax authorities. However, if the Hong Kong resident enterprise is not considered to be the beneficial owner of such dividends under applicable PRC tax regulations, such dividends may remain subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%. In addition, on February 20, 2009, the State Administration of Taxation (the “SAT”) issued the Circular on Issues in Tax Treaties Regarding Distribution of Dividends, which stipulates that a company that is established primarily for purposes of tax evasion will not be regarded as a beneficial owner and will not qualify for treaty benefits such as preferential dividend withholding tax rates. The SAT issued an Announcement on Issues in Tax Treaties Relating to “Beneficial Owner” (“SAT Announcement 9”), effective April 1, 2018, which provides guidance on determining whether an enterprise is a “beneficial owner” of dividends under China’s tax treaties and tax arrangements. SAT Announcement 9 provides that, in order to be a beneficial owner, an entity generally must be a direct owner of, and have the right to control, the income of the enterprise that is paying the dividends or must be a direct owner of, and have the right to control, the tangible or intangible assets generating such income, and also specifies that a company that is not organized for the purpose of engaging in substantive business activities may not be regarded as a beneficial owner. If any of our Hong Kong subsidiaries is, in the light of SAT Announcement 9, determined by the SAT to not be a beneficial owner for purposes of the China-HK Tax Arrangement, any dividends paid to it by any of our PRC subsidiaries would not qualify for the preferential dividend withholding tax rate of 5%, but rather would be subject to the regular withholding tax rate of 10% under the CIT Law.

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Our offshore entities may need to rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash requirements those offshore entities may have. Our offshore entities may not be able to obtain cash from distributions because our subsidiaries and VIEs in China are subject to restrictions imposed by PRC law on paying such dividends and making other payments.

Sogou Inc. is a holding company with no operating assets other than investments in Chinese operating entities through our intermediate holding companies, our subsidiaries in the PRC, and our VIEs. Our offshore entities may need to rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries for their cash requirements in excess of any cash raised from investors and retained by us or our other offshore entities. The primary source of any dividend payments to our offshore entities would need to be our PRC subsidiaries. It is possible that our PRC subsidiaries will not continue to receive payments in accordance with our VIE contracts with Sogou Information if such payments become subject to restrictions imposed by PRC laws. If our subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us through the intermediate companies. In addition, dividends paid out of the PRC are generally subject to a withholding tax of 10%.

The PRC government also imposes controls on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currencies out of the PRC. We may experience difficulties in completing the administrative procedures necessary to obtain and remit foreign currencies. If we or any of our subsidiaries are unable to receive the revenues from our operations through these service agreements and other arrangements, we may be unable to effectively fund any cash requirements we may have.

Regulation and censorship of information distribution in China may have an adverse effect on our business.

China has enacted regulations governing Internet access and the distribution of news and other information. Furthermore, the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party takes the responsibility to censor news published in China to ensure, supervise, and control a particular political ideology. In addition, the MIIT has published implementing regulations that subject online information providers to potential liability for content included in websites and the actions of users of their systems, including liability for violation of PRC laws prohibiting the distribution of content deemed to be socially destabilizing. Furthermore, because many PRC laws, regulations, and legal requirements with regard to the Internet are relatively new and untested, their interpretation and enforcement may involve significant uncertainties. As a result, in many cases an Internet platform operator may have difficulty determining the type of content that may subject it to liability.

Periodically, the Ministry of Public Security has stopped the distribution over the Internet of information which it believes to be socially destabilizing. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Security also has the authority to require any local Internet service provider to block any Website maintained outside China at its sole discretion. If the PRC government were to take action or exercise its authority to limit or eliminate our provision of access to information or to limit or regulate current or future applications available to our users, our business would be adversely affected.

The State Secrecy Bureau, which is directly responsible for the protection of state secrets of all PRC government and Chinese Communist Party organizations, is authorized to block any Website it deems to be leaking state secrets or failing to meet the relevant regulations relating to the protection of state secrets in the distribution of online information. Under the applicable regulations, we may be held liable for any content transmitted by us. Furthermore, where the transmitted content clearly violates the PRC laws, we will be required to delete it. Moreover, if we consider transmitted content suspicious, we are required to report such content. We must also undergo computer security inspections, and if we fail to implement required safeguards against security breaches, we may be shut down. As the implementing rules of these new regulations have not been issued, we do not know how or when we will be expected to comply, or how our business will be affected by the application of these regulations.

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We may be adversely affected by the PRC government’s ongoing crackdown on Internet pornographic content.

The PRC government has stringent prohibitions on online pornographic information and has launched several crackdowns on Internet pornography recently. On December 4, 2009, the MIIT and other three PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Incentives Measures for Report of Pornographic, Obscene and Vulgar Messages on Internet and Mobile Media, or the Anti-Pornography Notice, to further crack down on online pornography. Pursuant to this Anti-Pornography Notice, monetary rewards will be provided to Internet users who report websites that feature pornography. On April 13, 2014, the National Working Group on Anti-Pornography and three other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Anti-Pornography Proclamation, under which Internet service providers, including search companies such as us, must put in place software or other filters to prevent from appearing in search results, and immediately remove texts, images, video, advertisements, and other information that contain pornographic content. The relevant PRC governmental authorities may order enterprises or individuals who flagrantly produce or disseminate pornographic content to stop conducting business, and may revoke relevant administrative permits. It is possible that our users may engage in obscene conversations or activities on our platform that may be deemed illegal under PRC laws and regulations, and there is no assurance that content considered vulgar by PRC governmental authorities will not appear through our search services in the future. We may be subject to fines or other disciplinary actions, including in serious cases suspension or revocation of the licenses necessary to operate our platform, if we are deemed under PRC laws and regulations to have facilitated the accessing of inappropriate content through on our platform. In addition, if we are alleged by the government of providing access to vulgar content, our reputation could be adversely affected.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us, limit our ability to inject capital into our PRC subsidiaries, or otherwise expose us to liability and penalties under PRC laws.

In July 2014, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (the "SAFE") promulgated Circular 37, which replaced Circular 75, promulgated by SAFE in October 2005. Circular 37 requires PRC residents, including PRC institutions and individuals, to register with the local SAFE office in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, referred to in Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle,” for the purpose of holding domestic or offshore assets or interests. PRC residents must also file amendments to their registrations in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division, or other material event. In February 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular for Further Simplifying and Improving Policies of Foreign Exchange Administration Applicable to Direct Investment, which provides that effective June 2015 designated local banks are delegated authority under Circular 37 to review and process PRC residents’ applications for their initial foreign exchange registrations or amendments to their registrations in connection with their overseas direct investments. Under these regulations, PRC residents’ failure to comply with specified registration procedures may result in restrictions being imposed on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant PRC entities, including the payment of dividends and other distributions to its offshore parent, as well as restrictions on capital inflows from the offshore entity to the PRC entities, including restrictions on the ability to contribute additional capital to the PRC entities.

We have requested all of our current shareholders and/or beneficial owners to disclose whether they or their shareholders or beneficial owners fall within the scope of Circular 37 and other related rules, and requested such shareholders and beneficial owners, upon learning they are PRC residents, to make the necessary applications, filings and amendments as required under Circular 37 and other related rules prior to our initial public offering. However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents holding indirect interest in our company, and we cannot provide any assurances that these PRC residents will comply with our request to make or obtain any applicable registrations or comply with other requirements required by Circular 37 or related rules.

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Failure by any of our current or future shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents to comply with the SAFE regulations may subject us to fines or other legal sanctions, or limit our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries, or limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects. It is possible that some or all of our shareholders who are PRC residents will not comply with all the requirements required by Circular 37 or related rules. Any future failure by any of our shareholders who is a PRC resident, or controlled by a PRC resident, to comply with relevant requirements under these regulations could subject us to fines or legal sanctions imposed by the PRC government, including restrictions on our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends or make distributions to us and our ability to increase our investment in these subsidiaries and restrict our cross-border investment activities, which could in turn limit our ability to distribute dividends to holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.

PRC regulatory requirements with respect to transfers by offshore holding companies, such as us, to their PRC subsidiaries and VIEs and governmental control of currency conversion may limit or delay our ability to transfer the net proceeds of our initial public offering to our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs, which could have an adverse effect on our ability to fund and expand our business.

As a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we will need to comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations in order to transfer the net proceeds of our initial public offering to our PRC subsidiaries, Sogou Technology and Sogou Network, which are WFOEs under PRC law and are treated as FIEs, or to our VIEs in the PRC. We may contribute some or all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering to our PRC subsidiaries, and convert the contributed net proceeds into RMB. In order to make a capital contribution to either of our PRC subsidiaries, and convert the contributed amount from U.S. dollars into RMB, we will need to increase the PRC subsidiary’s registered capital by registering and/or filing the increase with the MOFCOM or one of its local branches, the SAFE or one of its local branches, or an authorized bank. If we transfer any of the proceeds of our initial public offering to one of our PRC subsidiaries or VIEs through loans, under current PRC law we will also need to register such loans with the SAFE or one of its local branches, and the amount that we may convert into RMB and loan to one of these entities will be limited by applicable SAFE regulations, in the case of a loan to one of our PRC subsidiaries, to the greater of (i) the difference between the subsidiary’s approved total investment and the subsidiary’s total registered capital and (ii) two times the PRC subsidiary’s net assets and, in the case of one of our VIEs, to two times the VIE’s net assets.

The need to comply with such requirements could prevent us from making timely transfers of the net proceeds of our initial public offering to our PRC subsidiaries and, in the event we wish to make such transfers through loans to our PRC subsidiaries or VIEs, will limit the amounts of the net proceeds that we may transfer, which could limit our ability to fund or expand our business in accordance with our intended use of the proceeds of our initial public offering. The amounts of total investment and registered capital of Sogou Technology as of December 31, 2020 were approximately US$100.0 million and US$40.0 million, and two times its net assets was equal to US$763.1 million, meaning that the limit on the proceeds of our initial public offering that we would be permitted to loan to Sogou Technology as of December 31, 2020 would be US$763.1 million. The amounts of total investment and registered capital of Sogou Network as of December 31, 2020 were both approximately US$0.8 million, and two times its net assets was equal to US$64.8 million, meaning that amount of the proceeds of our initial public offering that we would be permitted to loan to Sogou Network would be US$64.8 million. Two times the net assets of our principal VIEs was equal to negative US$104.4 million (Sogou Information), US$25.3 million (Shi Ji Si Su), and negative US$13.8 million (Chengdu Easypay), respectively, as of December 31, 2020, which represent the respective statutory limits on the amounts of loans we would be permitted to make to them as of December 31, 2020.

On March 30, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming Management of the Settlement of Foreign Exchange Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or Circular 19, which replaced previous regulations limiting a foreign-invested company’s use of its RMB-settled registered capital. Although Circular 19 has lifted certain restrictions on the use by a foreign-invested enterprise of its RMB registered capital converted from foreign currencies, it continues to apply certain limits, including that such registered capital must be used only for purposes within the foreign-invested enterprise’s approved business scope, and provides that violations of the regulations can result in severe penalties, including large fines. These regulations may limit our ability to transfer the net proceeds of our initial public offering through contributions or loans to our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs to invest in or acquire other businesses or establish additional VIEs as it is unclear whether the SAFE would consider such uses to be within the respective scopes of business of our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs.

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We may be subject to fines and legal sanctions if we or our employees who are PRC citizens fail to comply with PRC regulations relating to employee share options.

Under the Administration Measures on Individual Foreign Exchange Control issued by the PBOC and the related Implementation Rules issued the SAFE, all foreign exchange transactions by a PRC citizen involving an employee incentive plan of an overseas publicly-listed company may be conducted only with the approval of the SAFE. Under the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company, or the Offshore Share Incentives Rules, issued by the SAFE on February 15, 2012, PRC citizens who are granted share options, restricted share units or restricted shares by an overseas publicly-listed company under such employee share incentive plans are required to register with the SAFE or its local offices and comply with a series of other requirements. The Offshore Share Incentives Rules also specify requirements for registration of share incentive plans, the opening and use of special accounts for the purpose of participation in incentive plans, and the remittance of funds for exercising options and gains realized from such exercises and sales of such options or the underlying shares, both outside and inside the PRC. We, and any of our PRC employees or members of our board of directors who have been granted share options or other share-based awards, are subject to the Administration Measures on Individual Foreign Exchange Control, the related Implementation Rules, and the Offshore Share Incentives Rules. In addition, pursuant to Circular 37, a privately-held special purpose vehicle’s grant of equity incentives to a PRC citizen is subject to foreign exchange registration and, prior to making an investment in or receiving a grant of a share-based award in such an entity, a PRC citizen is required to apply with the relevant PRC governmental authorities for foreign exchange registration of the investment. Our PRC employees who have been granted share-based awards or held shares have not made the required registrations. We have registered our 2017 Share Incentive Plan with the SAFE, and we are in in process of applying for such registration of our 2010 Share Incentive Plan. If our 2010 Share Incentive Plan is not accepted for registration by the SAFE, we and those who have received awards may be subject to fines and legal sanctions, and our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries and our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us may be limited.

If the status of certain of our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs as “High and New Technology Enterprises,” “Key National Software Enterprises,” or “Software Enterprises” is revoked or expires, we may have to pay additional taxes or make up any previously unpaid taxes and may be subject to a higher tax rate, which would adversely affect our results of operations.

The CIT Law generally imposes a uniform income tax rate of 25% on all enterprises, but grants preferential treatment to “High and New Technology Enterprises,” or HNTEs, pursuant to which HNTEs are instead subject to an income tax rate of 15%, subject to a requirement that they re-apply for HNTE status every three years. During this three-year period, an HNTE must conduct a qualification self-review each year to ensure it meets the HNTE criteria, and will be subject to the regular 25% income tax rate for any year in which it does not meet the criteria. The CIT Law and its implementing rules provide that a “Software Enterprise” is entitled to an income tax exemption for two years beginning with its first profitable year before December 31, 2017 and a 50% reduction to a rate of 12.5% for the subsequent three years. An entity that qualified as a Key National Software Enterprise (“KNSE”) is entitled to a further reduced preferential income tax rate of 10%. Enterprises wishing to enjoy the status of Software Enterprises or KNSEs must perform a self-assessment each year to ensure they meet the relevant criteria for qualification. If at any time during the preferential tax treatment years an enterprise uses the preferential CIT rates but the relevant PRC governmental authorities determine that it failed to meet applicable criteria for qualification, PRC governmental authorities may revoke the enterprise’s Software Enterprise or KNSE status, as applicable.

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There are uncertainties regarding future interpretation and implementation of the CIT Law and its implementing regulations. It is possible that the HNTE, Software Enterprise, and KNSE qualifications of our operating entities currently qualified as such, or their entitlement to an income tax exemption or refund of their value-added tax, or VAT, will be challenged by higher-level tax authorities and be repealed, or that there will be future implementing regulations that are inconsistent with current interpretation of the CIT Law. For example, in 2016 the SAT issued a circular with new criteria for certifying a Software Enterprise. Therefore, it is possible that the qualification of one or more of our PRC Subsidiaries or VIEs as a Software Enterprise will be challenged in the future or that such companies will not be able to take any further actions, such as re-application for Software Enterprise qualification, to enjoy such preferential tax treatment. If those operating entities cannot qualify for such preferential income tax status, our effective income tax rate will be increased significantly and we may have to pay additional income taxes to make up the previously unpaid taxes, which would reduce our net income.

We may be deemed a PRC resident enterprise under the CIT Law and be subject to PRC taxation on our worldwide income.

The CIT Law provides that enterprises established outside of the PRC whose “de facto management bodies” are located within the PRC are considered “resident enterprises” and are generally subject to the uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on their worldwide income (including dividend income received from subsidiaries). Under the Implementing Regulations for the Corporate Income Tax Law, “de facto management body” is defined as a body that has material and overall management and control over the manufacturing and business operations, personnel and human resources, finances and treasury, and acquisition and disposition of properties and other assets of an enterprise. Since substantially all of our operational management is currently based in the PRC, it is unclear whether PRC tax authorities would require us to be treated as a PRC-resident enterprise. If we are treated as a resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes, we will be subject to PRC taxes on our worldwide income at the 25% uniform tax rate, which could have an impact on our effective tax rate and an adverse effect on our net income and the results of operations, even though dividends distributed from our PRC Subsidiaries to us could be exempted from Chinese dividend withholding tax under the CIT Law for PRC-resident recipients.

Dividends paid by us to our foreign investors and profits on the sale of our shares or ADSs may be subject to tax under PRC tax laws.

Under the Implementing Regulations for the Corporate Income Tax Law, PRC income tax at the rate of 10% is applicable to dividends paid to investors that are “non-resident enterprises,” without an establishment or place of business in the PRC, or which do have such establishment or place of business but the relevant income is not effectively connected with the establishment or place of business, to the extent that such dividends have their sources within the PRC. In addition, any profits realized through the transfer of shares by such investors are subject to 10% PRC income tax if such profits are regarded as income derived from sources within the PRC. It is unclear whether dividends we pay with respect to our shares, or the profits you may realize from the transfer of our shares, would be treated as income derived from sources within the PRC and be subject to PRC taxes if we were treated as a PRC resident enterprise under the CIT Law. Non-resident individual investors may be liable for PRC income tax at a rate of 20% on dividend payments or in respect of profits on transfer of ADSs if such amounts are deemed to arise from sources within the PRC. In the case of dividend payments, we would be required to withhold the tax at source. Any PRC tax liability may be reduced under applicable tax treaties. If we are required under the Implementing Regulations for the Corporate Income Tax Law to withhold PRC income tax on dividends paid to our non-PRC investors that are “non-resident enterprises,” or if you are required to pay PRC income tax on the transfer of our ADSs, the value of your investment in our ADSs may be adversely affected.

Restrictions on currency exchange may limit our ability to use our revenues effectively.

Substantially all of our revenues and operating expenses are denominated in RMB. The RMB is not freely tradable in “capital account” transactions, which include foreign direct investment. Foreign exchange transactions classified as capital account transactions are subject to limitations and require approval from the SAFE. This could affect our China-based subsidiaries’ ability to obtain foreign exchange through debt or equity financing, including by means of loans or capital contributions from us.

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Further, the RMB is at present freely convertible in “current account” transactions, which include dividends, and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, and our China-based subsidiaries may purchase and retain foreign exchange for settlement of such transactions, including payment of dividends, without the approval of the SAFE. However, the relevant PRC governmental authorities may limit or eliminate our ability to purchase and retain foreign currencies in the future.

Since a significant amount of our future revenues are likely to be in the form of RMB, these existing restrictions, and any future restrictions, on currency exchange may limit our ability to use revenues generated in RMB to fund our business activities outside of the PRC, or to make expenditures denominated in foreign currencies.

We may suffer currency exchange losses if the RMB depreciates relative to the U.S. dollar, which could reduce the value on an investment in our ADSs.

Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. However, substantially all of our revenues are denominated in RMB. If the RMB depreciates relative to the U.S. dollar, our revenues and assets as expressed in our U.S. dollar financial statements will decline in value. In addition, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive from our initial public offering into RMB for our operations, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our RMB into U.S. dollars for the purpose of paying dividends on our ordinary shares or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us.

Risks Related to Our Class A Ordinary Shares and ADSs

We are a Cayman Islands company and, because judicial precedent regarding the rights of shareholders is more limited under Cayman Islands law than that under U.S. law, our shareholders may have less protection for their shareholder rights than they would under U.S. law.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association and Amended and Restated Articles of Association and we are governed by the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands (the “Cayman Islands Companies Act”) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take legal action against our directors and us, actions by minority shareholders, and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States, such as the State of Delaware where many United States-based corporations are organized. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and provides significantly less protection to investors. In addition, shareholders of Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in U.S. federal courts. As a result, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests through actions against us, our management, our directors, or our major shareholders than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a jurisdiction in the United States such as Delaware.

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It may be difficult to enforce any civil judgments against us or our Board of Directors or officers, because most of our operating and/or fixed assets are located outside the United States.

Although we are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, most of our operating and fixed assets are located in the PRC. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to enforce judgments outside the United States obtained in actions brought against us in the United States, including actions predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or of the securities laws of any state of the United States. In addition, certain of our directors and officers (principally based in the PRC) and all or a substantial portion of their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon those directors and officers, or to enforce against them or us judgments obtained in United States courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or of the securities laws of any state of the United States. We have been advised by our PRC legal counsel that, in their opinion, there are substantial uncertainties as to the enforceability in the PRC, in original actions or in actions for enforcement of judgments of United States courts, of civil liabilities predicated solely upon the federal securities laws of the United States or the securities laws of any state of the United States.

From time to time, press reports in the United States questioning the VIE structure used by us and various Chinese companies publicly traded in the United States may create concern among investors that may cause our ADS price to fluctuate.

In recent years various prominent Western news outlets have questioned the use by Chinese companies that are publicly traded in the United States of VIE structure as a means of complying with PRC laws prohibiting or restricting foreign ownership of certain businesses in China, including businesses we are engaged in such as sponsored search, Internet information and content, online advertising, online game, and value-added telecommunication services. Some of such news reports have also sought to draw a connection between widely-reported accounting issues at certain Chinese companies and the use of VIE structure. Such news reports appear to have had the effect of causing concern among investors in several Chinese companies that are publicly traded in the United States. While we are not aware of any causal connection between the reported accounting scandals and the use of VIE structure, it is possible that investors in our ADSs will believe that such a connection exists. Any of such circumstances could lead to further loss of investor confidence in Chinese companies such as ours and cause fluctuations in the market prices of our ADSs and, if such prices were to drop sharply, could subject us to shareholder litigation, which could cause the price for our ADSs to drop further.

The U.S. Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which was signed into law by the U.S. President in December 2020, could result in the delisting of our ADSs from the NYSE and the prohibition of their trading in the U.S. over-the-counter markets.

Starting in 2011, we and the PRC affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, have been affected by a conflict between U.S. and PRC law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in mainland China, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, and the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the “PCAOB”) sought to obtain from the PRC big four affiliate firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. However, the firms were advised and directed that under PRC law they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.

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On December 18, 2020, the U.S. President signed the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which, among other things, directs the SEC to prohibit trading on U.S. stock exchanges and in the U.S. over-the-counter markets the securities of foreign-based companies if their financial statements are audited by accounting firms that the PCAOB determines it has been unable to inspect or investigate completely for a period of three consecutive audit years, because of a position taken by the authorities in a foreign jurisdiction in which the accounting firms are based. Also on December 18, 2020, the Chair of the SEC, in response to the enactment of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, reported in a published statement that he had directed the staff of the SEC to consider providing a single consolidated proposal for the SEC’s consideration on issues related to the PCAOB’s access to audit work papers, exchange listing standards, and trading prohibitions. If the PCAOB determines that it has been unable to inspect or investigate completely our independent registered public accounting firm for a period of three consecutive audit years, the Holding Foreign Companies Accounting Act, together with any rules promulgated by the SEC pursuant to the statute, could require that our ADSs and Class A Ordinary Shares be delisted from the NYSE and not traded in the over-the-counter market, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States. In addition, the provisions of the Holding Foreign Companies Accounting Act could cause investors and potential investors in our ADSs to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.

Proceedings instituted by the SEC against PRC affiliates of the “big four” could also result in the delisting of our ADSs from the NYSE and the prohibition of their trading in the U.S. over-the-counter markets.

In late 2012, the SEC commenced administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the PRC big four affiliate accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. In February 2015, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC pursuant to which the SEC accepted that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents would be made to the CSRC. The firms were to receive matching requests, and were required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance required them to facilitate production of the requested documents via the CSRC. If the firms failed to meet specified criteria during a period of four years starting from the settlement date, the SEC retained the authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Under the terms of the settlement, the underlying proceedings against the four China-based accounting firms were deemed dismissed with prejudice four years after entry of the settlement. The four-year mark occurred on February 6, 2019. However, we cannot predict if the SEC will further challenge the four China-based accounting firms’ compliance with U.S. law. If such a further challenge resulted in our independent registered public accounting firm being denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC, and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). Such a determination could lead to the delisting of our ADSs and Class A Ordinary Shares from the NYSE, and/or termination of their registration under the Exchange Act. In addition, news about any such future proceedings against these PRC big four affiliate accounting firms could cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may lose investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

We are subject to reporting obligations under the U.S. securities laws. The SEC, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, adopted rules requiring every public company to include a management report on the company’s internal control over financial reporting in its annual report, which contains management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, an independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, our management and our independent registered public accounting firm may not be able to conclude that we have effective internal control over financial reporting at a reasonable assurance level. This could in turn result in loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements and negatively impact the trading price of our ADSs. Furthermore, we have incurred and anticipate that we will continue to incur considerable costs, management time and other resources in our efforts to comply with Section 404 and other requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

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We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and as a result we are entitled to, and do, rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies. We also have invoked one of the “home country practice” exceptions to the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE Listed Company Manual that are available to foreign private issuers such as us, and we may invoke additional such exceptions in the future.

Sohu, through its ownership of Class B Ordinary Shares and the Voting Agreement with Tencent, will have the power to appoint a majority of our board of directors. As a result, we will be a “controlled company” under the NYSE Listed Company Manual. We will rely on certain exemptions that are available to controlled companies from NYSE corporate governance requirements, including the following, which we do not intend to meet voluntarily:

We are not required to and will not voluntarily meet these requirements. If we are no longer a “controlled company,” we may in the future invoke “home country” exceptions available to foreign private issuers, such as us, under the NYSE Listed Company Manual which are similar to the exemptions for controlled companies, and also include the possibility of additional exceptions from the NYSE Listed Company Manual, such as the requirement that equity-compensation plans be approved by shareholders. As a result of our use of the “controlled company” exemptions, and any future use by us of the “home country” exceptions, holders of our ADSs will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of NYSE corporate governance requirements.

Sohu, through its ownership of Class B Ordinary Shares and a voting agreement with Tencent, has the power to appoint a majority of our board of directors and Sohu and Tencent together have the voting power to control the outcome of shareholder actions in our company.

Our ordinary shares are divided into Class A Ordinary Shares and Class B Ordinary Shares. Holders of Class A Ordinary Shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B Ordinary Shares are entitled to 10 votes per share. Sohu, through its ownership of Class B Ordinary Shares and a voting agreement with Tencent, has the power to appoint a majority of our board of directors. Sohu and Tencent together have indirect shareholdings totaling approximately 72.9% of the total of our outstanding Class A and Class B Ordinary Shares and totaling approximately 96.3% of the total voting power of the combined total of our outstanding Class A and Class B ordinary shares as of February 26, 2021, due to the additional voting power of the Class B Ordinary Shares. Sohu’s and Tencent’s combined voting power gives them the power to control actions that require shareholder approval under Cayman Islands law, our Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association and Amended and Restated Articles of Association, and the NYSE Listed Company Manual, including significant mergers and acquisitions and other business combinations, changes to our Amended and Restated Memorandum of Association and Amended and Restated Articles of Association, the number of shares available for issuance under share incentive plans, and the issuance of significant amounts of our ordinary shares in private placements.

Due to the disparate voting powers attached to the two classes of our ordinary shares, Sohu and Tencent will continue to have this power even if, at some point in the future, they hold considerably less than a majority of the combined total of our outstanding Class A and Class B ordinary shares.

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Sohu’s and Tencent’s voting control may cause transactions to occur that might not be beneficial to the holders of our ADSs, and may prevent transactions that would be beneficial to them. For example, Sohu’s and Tencent’s voting control may prevent a transaction involving a change of control of us, including transactions in which a holder of our ADSs might otherwise receive a premium for such securities over the then-current market price. In addition, Sohu and Tencent are not prohibited from selling their interests in us to a third party. Subject to certain limitations, if Sohu or Tencent is acquired or otherwise undergoes a change of control, or sells a controlling interest in us, any acquirer or successor will be entitled to exercise the voting control and contractual rights of Sohu or Tencent, as applicable, and may do so in a manner that could vary significantly from that of Sohu or Tencent.

We may have conflicts of interest with Sohu and Tencent, and such conflicts may not be resolved in our favor.

Conflicts of interest may arise between Sohu and Tencent, on the one hand, and us, on the other hand, in a number of areas relating to our past and ongoing relationships. Potential conflicts of interest that we have identified include the following:

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Although we are a stand-alone entity separate from Sohu and Tencent, we expect to operate, for as long as Sohu has the right to appoint a majority of our Board of Directors, as a part of the Sohu Group. Sohu may from time to time make strategic decisions that it believes are in the best interests of its business as a whole, including our company. These decisions may be different from the decisions that we would have made on our own. Sohu’s decisions with respect to us or our business may be resolved in ways that favor Sohu and therefore Sohu’s own shareholders, which may not coincide with the interests of shareholders other than Sohu. We may not be able to resolve any potential conflicts, and even if we do so, the resolution may be less favorable to us than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated shareholder. Even if both Sohu and we and Tencent seek to transact business on terms intended to approximate those that could have been achieved among unaffiliated parties, this may not succeed in practice.

The market price for our ADSs may fluctuate.

The trading price of our ADSs has been and may continue to be subject to fluctuations. During the period from November 9, 2017, the first day of trading of our ADSs on the NYSE, until February 26, 2021, the trading price of our ADSs ranged from US$2.95 to US$15.50 per ADS, and the closing sale price on February 26, 2021 was US$8.26 per ADS. Among the factors that could affect the price of our ADSs are the various risk factors described in this annual report and other factors, including:

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In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular industries or companies, and such fluctuations have from time to time had, and may again in the future have, an adverse effect on the market price of our ADSs. For example, the actual and perceived worldwide economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant drop in prices on global securities markets during 2020.

It is possible that our currently pending going-private transaction with Tencent will not be completed, which could have an adverse effect on the market price of our ADSs.

It is possible that the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger will not occur as planned if events arise that result in the termination of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement and the Sogou Merger Agreement, or if one or more of the various closing conditions to the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sohu Merger, including anti-trust clearance of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase under PRC law, are not satisfied or waived. We have incurred, and will continue to incur, significant costs, expenses, and fees for professional services and other transaction costs in connection with the Sogou Merger. All the fees and costs in connection with the Sogou Merger will be payable by us even if the transaction is not completed. If the Sogou Merger is not completed, holders of our ADSs will not receive the proposed merger consideration, and the price of our ADSs could decline.

The announcement and pendency of our going-private transaction with Tencent could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

The process of consummating the pending Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and Sogou Merger could cause disruptions in our business and divert our management’s attention and other resources from day-to-day operations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. The Sogou Merger Agreement, by its terms, imposes restrictions on our conduct of business prior to the completion of the Sogou Merger, which may delay or prevent us from undertaking certain business opportunities that may arise pending the completion of the Sogou Merger. In addition, we may be subject to claims and legal actions arising in connection with the Sogou Merger, and such claims and legal actions, with or without merit, may be expensive to defend, may divert our management’s attention, and may have an adverse impact on our reputation. For example, a complaint was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by a single plaintiff. The complaint alleges, in sum and substance, that a Transaction Statement on Schedule 13E-3 filed by us on December 1, 2020 regarding our contemplated going-private transaction contained certain statements regarding dissenters’ rights that were allegedly rendered false by a subsequent judgment by the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. The plaintiff seeks an injunction to prevent the Sogou Merger as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. Further, current and prospective employees and members of management could become uncertain about their future roles with us in the event the Sogou Merger is completed. This uncertainty could adversely affect our ability to retain and hire employees and members of management. In addition, the announcement and pendency of the Sogou Merger could have an adverse effect on our relationships with our customers, suppliers, and other third-party service providers and business partners. For example, our search and search-related revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2020 decreased, in part as a result of uncertainties on the part of certain advertisers with respect to our business strategies and policies following the announcement of the Sogou Merger. If our collaborations and relationships with business partners are terminated or curtailed, our business, results of operations, and financial condition will be adversely affected.

Our dual-class ordinary share structure could have an adverse effect on the market price of our ADSs.

Our dual-class ordinary share structure, and the consequent concentration of voting power in Sohu and Tencent as a result of their ownership of our Class B Ordinary Shares, could adversely affect perceptions of us in the equity capital markets and could result in a lower market price for our ADSs. For example, apparently as a result of public criticism by commentators and shareholder advisory firms of companies with classes of shares with disparate voting rights, certain providers of indexes of publicly-traded equity shares, including FTSE Russell, S&P Dow Jones, and MSCI, have recently announced that they have either implemented, or are considering implementing, policies excluding companies with certain types of multiple-class voting structures from some of their published equity indexes. If our ADSs were to be excluded from such indexes, the market price of our ADSs could be adversely affected.

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Holders of our ADSs may be subject to limitations on transfer of their ADSs.

While Our ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems it expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deem it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the Deposit Agreement, or for any other reason.

Holders of ADSs have limited voting rights and may not receive voting materials in time to be able to exercise their right to vote.

Except as described in this annual report and in the Deposit Agreement, holders of our ADSs will not be able to exercise voting rights attaching to the shares represented by our ADSs on an individual basis. Holders of our ADSs may instruct the depositary how to exercise the voting rights attaching to the shares represented by the ADSs. You may not receive voting materials in time to instruct the depositary to vote, however, and it is possible that direct holders of ADSs, or persons who hold their ADSs through brokers, dealers or other third parties, will not have the opportunity to exercise a vote. In addition, due to the different voting powers attached to the two classes of our ordinary shares and a voting agreement between Sohu and Tencent, Sohu, our controlling shareholder, has the right to appoint a majority of our Board of Directors, Tencent has the right to appoint two of our directors, and Sohu and Tencent together control all other matters put to a shareholder vote. As a result, as a holder of our ADSs you will have no ability to affect the outcome of any matter subject to shareholder vote.

ADS holders’ right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to their holdings and ADS holders may not receive cash dividends if it is impractical to make them available to such holders.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to ADS holders in the United States unless we register the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, or an exemption from registration requirements is available. Also, under the Deposit Agreement, the depositary bank will not make rights available to ADS holders unless the distribution to ADS holders of both the rights and any related securities are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we may not be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, holders of our ADSs may be unable to participate in any rights offerings by us and may experience dilution in their holdings.

In addition, the depositary bank for our ADSs has agreed to pay to ADS holders the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. ADS holders will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of ordinary shares such holders’ ADSs represent. However, the depositary bank may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property through the mail, or that the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them, or that the distribution requires certain governmental approvals, such as requirements for registration or approval of currency conversions. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute that property and ADSs holders will not receive that distribution.

You will experience dilution as outstanding share options are exercised.

You will experience dilution to the extent that additional Class A Ordinary Shares are issued upon settlement of outstanding share options or other share-based awards that we may grant from time to time. As of February 26, 2021, there were options outstanding exercisable for the purchase of an aggregate of 4,412,149 Class A Ordinary Shares.

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We may need additional capital and may sell additional ADSs or other equity securities or incur indebtedness, which could result in additional dilution to our shareholders or increase our debt service obligations.

We may require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If our cash resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain a credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities or equity-linked debt securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

Substantial future sales of our ADSs or ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Additional sales of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. As of February 26, 2021, there were 109,079,582 Class A ordinary shares and 278,757,875 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. The ordinary shares held by our officers and directors and certain shareholders are available for sale, subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

In addition, Sohu, Tencent, and Photon Group Limited (“Photon”), a British Virgin Islands company of which Dr. Charles Zhang, the Chairman of or Board of Directors may be deemed to be the beneficial owner, which held approximately 33.8%, 39.1%, and 6.4% of the combined total of our outstanding Class A and Class B Ordinary Shares as of February 26, 2021, are parties to a registration rights agreement that gives them rights that, if exercised, will permit them to sell some or all of their shares freely in the open market without regard to the restrictions of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. As of February 26, 2021, there were options outstanding exercisable for the purchase of an aggregate of 4,412,149 Class A Ordinary Shares. We also may grant or issue additional share options, restricted share units, or other share-based awards in the future under our share incentive plan to our management, employees and other persons, the settlement and sale of which may further dilute our shares and drive down the price of our ADSs.

We believe that we may be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for the 2020 taxable year, which would likely result in adverse United States federal income tax consequences to U.S. holders of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

We believe that we may have been classified as a PFIC for United States federal income tax purposes for our taxable year ended November 30, 2020. There can be no assurance that we will not continue to be classified as a PFIC in the current taxable year or in any future taxable year. The determination of whether we would continue to be treated as a PFIC is based in significant part on our operations and the composition of our earnings and assets (including goodwill) for a given taxable year, including the valuation of our assets based on the market price of our ADSs.

If we are treated as a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. holder (as defined under “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company”) held an ADS or a Class A ordinary share, certain adverse United States federal income tax consequences likely would apply to such U.S. holder. See “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company”.

If we are a PFIC, a U.S. holder of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares could make a variety of elections that might alleviate certain of the tax consequences referred to above, and certain of these elections may be made retroactively. However, it is expected that the conditions necessary for making certain of such elections will not apply in the case of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares. See “Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation—Passive Foreign Investment Company”.

U.S. holders and prospective holders of our ADSs or Class A Ordinary Shares are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the PFIC rules to an investment in our ADSs or Class A Ordinary Shares.

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During the year ended December 31, 2014, we repurchased 4,185,800 Pre-IPO Class A Ordinary Shares from various shareholders, a majority of whom were our employees, for an aggregate purchase price of US$41.9 million.

In September 2015, we repurchased from Sohu and Photon, pursuant to the repurchase option agreements we had entered into in September 2013, 24,000,000 and 6,400,000 Pre-IPO Series A Preferred Shares of Sogou, for aggregate purchase prices of US$78.8 million and US$21.0 million, respectively.

In August 2017, in preparation for our initial public offering, Sohu, Tencent, and we entered into a voting agreement that provided for the redesignation of all of our authorized and outstanding equity shares outstanding immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering into either Class A Ordinary Shares or Class B Ordinary Shares effective upon the completion of our initial public offering and also provides, among things, that, effective upon the completion of such offering, subject to certain conditions, for so long as Sohu and Tencent together hold a majority of the combined voting power of our Class A Ordinary Shares and Class B Ordinary Shares, Sohu will continue to have the right to appoint a majority of our Board of Directors. The Class A Ordinary Shares are entitled to one vote per share, and the Class B Ordinary Shares, which are held solely by Sohu and Tencent, are entitled to 10 votes per share. As a result, Sohu and Tencent together have the power to decide all matters that are put to a vote of our shareholders. See “Related Party Transactions—Voting Agreement Between Sohu and Tencent.”

We completed an initial public offering of our ADSs on November 13, 2017. Our ADSs are traded on the NYSE under the symbol “SOGO.”

On September 29, 2020, we entered into the Sogou Merger Agreement, pursuant to which Tencent will acquire all of our outstanding shares that Tencent does not already beneficially own in an all-cash transaction. Pursuant to the terms of the Sogou Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the Sogou Merger (the “Sogou Merger Effective Time”) each Class A Ordinary Share, including Class A Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Sogou Merger Effective Time, other than the Class A Ordinary Shares owned or beneficially owned by Tencent, will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive $9.00 in cash per share or ADS, without interest. On or about the same time as the Sogou Merger Agreement was signed, Sohu.com Limited, Sohu Search, and Tencent Merger Sub entered into the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which Sohu Search agreed to sell all of the Class A Ordinary Shares and Class B Ordinary Shares owned by it to Tencent Merger Sub. Also on or about the same time, THL and Tencent Merger Sub entered into a contribution agreement pursuant to which THL agreed to contribute all of the Class B Ordinary Shares owned by it to Tencent Merger Sub (the “Share Contribution”). The Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Share Contribution are expected to be completed shortly prior to the completion of the Sogou Merger. Upon the completion of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Share Contribution, Tencent Merger Sub will hold at least 90% of the voting power represented by all of our issued and outstanding shares. Accordingly, the Sogou Merger will be in the form of a short-form merger of Tencent Merger Sub with and into us in accordance with section 233(7) of the Cayman Islands Companies Act, with Sogou Inc. being the company surviving the Sogou Merger, and shareholder approval of the Sogou Merger Agreement and the Sogou Merger will not be required. The Sogou Merger, if completed, will result in our becoming a privately-owned company wholly owned indirectly by Tencent, our ADSs no longer being listed on the NYSE, and our ADS program being terminated.

As of the date of this annual report, the Sogou Merger has not been completed, and is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set forth in the Sogou Merger Agreement, including anti-trust clearance of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase under PRC law.

Our principal executive offices are located at Level 15, Sohu.com Internet Plaza, No. 1 Unit Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 10-5689-9999. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Vistra (Cayman) Limited at P.O. Box 31119 Grand Pavilion, Hibiscus Way, 802 West Bay Road, Grand Cayman, KY1-1205 Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is CT Corporation System, 111 Eighth Avenue, New York, New York 10011.

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Business Overview

We are an innovator in search and a leader in China’s Internet industry. Our Sogou Search is the second largest search engine in China by mobile queries, according to iResearch, and we are the fourth largest Internet company in China based on MAU in December 2020, according to iResearch. Our differentiated search services, our industry-leading Sogou Input Method, the robust ecosystem we have built and shared with Tencent and other strategic partners, and significant breakthroughs in AI uniquely position us to capture opportunities in China’s search and Internet industry.

We strengthened the content and service ecosystem of Sogou Search during 2020. On the content front, we are committed to building a more efficient and knowledgeable search platform that provides high-quality content, particularly in healthcare search and intelligent question answering (“Q&A”). On the services front, we enhanced our offerings and continued to explore opportunities in AI healthcare. With the ongoing integration of AI technology, Sogou Search continued to evolve into an engine that offers valuable knowledge.

In addition, we have built and share a robust ecosystem with Tencent and other strategic partners. We deliver differentiated content to our users, including search access to the vast content from Tencent’s Weixin/WeChat Official Accounts. Sogou Search is the default search engine for a range of Tencent products that offer general search functions. Sogou Search also continues to be the preferred third-party search engine on Weixin/WeChat to access Internet content outside Weixin/WeChat. We intend to extend this partnership year to year until 2023 as part of the overall framework agreement that Sogou and Tencent entered into in September 2018.

Sogou Input Method is the largest Chinese language input software by both mobile and PC MAUs in December 2020, according to iResearch, and is the first cloud-based Chinese language input software. Sogou Mobile Keyboard is the third largest mobile app in China in December 2020, according to iResearch, and is China’s largest and most popular voice recognition app, based on our internal data. In December 2020, Sogou Mobile Keyboard had 473 million mobile DAUs, and processed up to 941 million daily voice requests. Sogou Mobile Keyboard interfaces with virtually all applications that involve Chinese language input, generating massive and high-quality data that is critical to our big data capabilities. Sogou Mobile Keyboard has the ability to anticipate users’ search intentions in real-time and allows users to search directly with Sogou Search through its embedded search function, generating a significant portion of our organic search traffic. It also provides targeted recommendations to address users’ variety of needs for information discovery while they are typing. Thanks to a number of product innovations, Sogou Mobile Keyboard continues to evolve from a utility software to an AI-enabled communication assistant.

We have been dedicated to the upgrade of our Smart Hardware business by better leveraging Sogou’s AI capabilities. Our major product lines include Sogou AI, our voice-enabled hardware products that are empowered by AI technology, and Teemo, our smart hardware products for children. In 2020, we launched a variety of upgraded products to the market.

We are at the forefront of AI development with a clear roadmap. Focusing on natural interaction and knowledge computing, we have become a leader in language-centered AI capabilities, including speech, computer vision, machine translation, dialogue, and Q&A. In addition to empowering our core Search, Mobile Keyboard, and Smart Hardware businesses, we also integrated the technologies into industry-leading solutions, including AI-powered Vocational Avatars and Simultaneous Interpretation, and expanded their use into multiple sectors. Our proven AI capabilities will facilitate our launch of more disruptive products and services, such as virtual personal assistants (“VPAs”), to serve users anytime, anywhere.

Our revenues were US$1.124 billion, US$1.172 billion and US$924.7 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We generate revenues primarily from search and search-related advertising services, which represented 90.6% of our total revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020.

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Our Business

Products and Services for Users

Our suite of products and services for users focuses on search and search-related services that cover a wide variety of use cases, from online search to input methods. Through our products and services, we have built a massive and engaged user base.

Sogou Search

We make information easily accessible for Chinese Internet users. Through Sogou Search, we enable our users to conveniently find relevant, high-quality, and comprehensive information anytime, anywhere. We offer users general and vertical search services through our website sogou.com and our mobile search application. In addition, Sogou Search is the default general search engine for popular Internet portals such as qq.com and sohu.com, and popular browsers such as the Mobile QQ Browser and Sogou Browser. Sogou Search was the second largest search engine in China by mobile queries in December 2020, according to iResearch.

General Search

Our general search is the core product of our search services. After a user types in a query in the search box, our search engine quickly returns a list of ranked search results (appearing as hypertexts), snippets, and sometimes direct answers in response to the user query. In many cases, the search snippets appearing underneath the hypertexts, or the direct answers appearing at the top of the search result page, provide users with the desired information. In other cases, users click on the hypertexts to visit the linked websites.

Search Features

To help users find the information they desire more quickly and conveniently, Sogou Search offers the following features:

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Key Mobile Search Features

Given the growing use of mobile devices, we have developed additional features that are optimal for mobile search to enhance user experience, such as:

Vertical Search Services

We strive to offer differentiated content in our search products and services in order to improve our search results and provide an enhanced search experience for our users. Through collaborations with industry-leading content providers, we offer the following vertical search services:

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Sogou Input Method

The Chinese language is a logographic language, while traditional keyboards are designed for alphabetic languages. Due to the complexities of inputting Chinese characters using alphabetic keyboards, Chinese language input software allows users to input Chinese using alphabetical letters based on the Chinese pronunciation and select the correct Chinese character from a list of Chinese characters with the same pronunciation.

We launched Sogou Input Method, the first cloud-based Chinese language input software, in 2006. Sogou Input Method has become an indispensable Chinese language input software tool for PC and mobile users. According to iResearch, as of December 31, 2020, Sogou Input Method was the most widely used PC software in China by DAU and the number one Chinese language input software for PC users in terms of MAU.

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According to iResearch, as of December 31, 2020, Sogou Mobile Keyboard, the mobile application for Sogou Input Method, was the third most widely used mobile application in China by DAU, and the number one Chinese language input application for mobile users in terms of MAU.

The diagrams below illustrate how Sogou Mobile Keyboard has made Chinese language input easy and efficient for mobile users.

We are also committed to evolving Sogou Mobile Keyboard into an AI communication assistant. In 2020, we enriched its AI smart input function and extended its vertical use cases. For AI smart input, we refined our "Smart Wangzai", an AI-enabled communication function within Sogou Mobile Keyboard, to allow users to easily input their conversations on Weixin/WeChat, QQ and other e-commerce platforms. We also expanded vertical use cases of Sogou Mobile Keyboard from handwriting, multi-language, to barrier-free inputs, with the latter focusing on helping visually-impaired users improve input efficiency. In addition, we rolled out more AI input services ranging from voice, optical character recognition (“OCR”), to translation, which helped reinforce Mobile Keyboard’s position as the largest voice recognition app in China. As of the end of December 2020, it had processed up to 941 million voice requests and handled millions of translation requests per day.

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The diagrams below illustrate how Sogou Mobile Keyboard has made Chinese language input more intelligent for mobile users.

Illustration of Smart Wangzai

In addition, Sogou Mobile Keyboard possesses a large library of language data, with over 120 billion Chinese character inputs per day that our users have generated across a wide variety of Internet use cases, such as social media, news, entertainment, shopping, travel, and financial services. We are able to leverage such massive data to more accurately and rapidly predict user intent, which enables us to continually enhance and innovate our products and services.

Other Products

Sogou Browser

Sogou Browser is designed to make web navigation fast and easy. We continually upgrade the browser to expand functionality from a browsing tool to a content distribution platform for an enriched user experience. In addition to a range of vertical services, we also provide personalized newsfeeds leveraging our big data capabilities based on users’ browsing habits and history.

Sogou Web Directory

Sogou Web Directory, a content aggregation and distribution platform, is a one-stop shop for navigation of the Chinese Web. The platform consists of a variety of services, including news aggregation, video content aggregation, and shopping assistance.

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Sogou Maps

Sogou Maps provides Internet-based map and navigation services related to traffic options, routing optimization, and positioning calculation across PCs, mobile devices, and smart wearables. Sogou Maps has been pre-installed on third-party mobile devices and smart wearables for the Chinese market, including Google’s Android Wear smartwatch. Sogou Maps also supports a variety of car-smartphone connectivity protocols that allow users to stay connected to their smartphone apps while driving. Sogou Smart Driving Assistant is an application that provides full voice-enabled in-vehicle services, and has been built into in-vehicle assistant systems for industry partners such as automakers and map service providers.

Sogou Mobile Assistant

Sogou Mobile Assistant provides users with access to a large selection of mobile applications and mobile games, which are authenticated by us in order to ensure the safety of the content for users’ phones. Using big data and AI technologies, we have built an intelligent recommendation system in Sogou Mobile Assistant to help users find mobile applications and games related to their interests.

Sogou Game Center

The Sogou Game Center, our gaming platform, offers web and mobile games developed by third parties.

Sogou Translation

Sogou Translation is a multi-language translation solution that incorporates neural machine translation technology and a massive linguistic database to deliver language translation. It is web-based and also available as a mobile application. In addition to written text translation, the Sogou Translation mobile application supports speech, document, OCR, and augmented reality translation. Also, with Exam Dictionaries, which we developed in-house, Sogou Translation provides high-quality content that users may access to prepare for their academic examinations.

Smart Hardware

For smart hardware, we have been driving AI empowerment of our products. In 2020, we continued to invest in research and development (“R&D”) to enhance our AI competencies in hardware. Our major product lines include Sogou AI, our voice-enabled hardware products that are empowered by AI technology, and Teemo, our smart hardware products for children.

Sogou AI

Our flagship product Sogou AI Recorder covered a full range of high-, mid-, and low-end markets in 2020. We launched an upscale AI Recorder category for more complex use cases, such as conferences and training. The upgraded recorder successfully captured the interest of users with a number of pioneering and distinctive functions, such as real-time transcription of multiple languages and dialects, mutual translation of languages, AI-enabled noise reduction, auto-identification of speakers, and other functioins.

Teemo

Our Teemo product line, which we have expanded from our Teemo smartwatch for children, includes a full suite of smart hardware for children. In 2020, we launched our first education product for children, Teemo Dictionary Pen, with AI-enabled functions such as smart dialogue and translation. We also launched VPA services, which are designed to serve as a Children's Encyclopedia, answering children’s various questions while they are studying.

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Monetization

We generate revenue primarily from our search and search-related advertising services. Search and search-related advertising services enable advertisers’ promotional links to be displayed on our search result pages and other properties and third parties’ Internet properties where the links are relevant to search queries and such properties. Our large user base and big data capabilities allow us to enhance the effectiveness of our targeted advertising services, thereby strengthening our monetization capabilities.

We also generate revenue from other business by offering Internet value-added services, or IVAS, primarily with respect to our operation of games developed by third parties, as well as by offering other products and services, including smart hardware products and online lending and microcredit services.

Online Advertising

Search and Search-Related Advertising Products and Services

Search and search-related advertising services consist primarily of auction-based pay-for-click services, for which we charge advertisers on a per click basis when users click on the advertisers’ promotional links displayed on our and third parties’ Internet properties. Revenue generated from our auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 83.8%, 88.1% and 86.8%, respectively, of the total revenue derived from our search and search-related advertising services in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The following are the types of advertising products and services that we offer:

We have widely applied deep learning and reinforcement learning technologies in all aspects of search advertising. By applying such technologies, we can retrieve relevant ads from hundreds of millions of ads in real time to generate more traffic for advertisers while ensuring a quality user experience, select more appealing ads to improve click through rate, and automatically match advertising materials, combined with accurate user profiling based on Sogou’s big data capabilities, to interpret user behaviors in real time and recommend tailored dynamic advertising content.

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Advertisers and Sales Network

Our advertisers consist of small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, in China; and large domestic Chinese companies and multinational companies, or Key Accounts. Our advertisers are from a broad range of industries, including healthcare, online games, e-commerce, merchant services, and business services.

Most of our advertisers are represented by third-party advertising agencies. We generally require the agencies representing SMEs to pre-pay for our advertising services, but we offer them discounts to incentivize their marketing efforts. For agencies representing Key Accounts, we ask for pre-payment on a case-by-case basis and offer discounts depending on the industry practice, the account, and our marketing goals at the time.

Other Monetization Models

Games

We operate third-party games on Sogou Game Center and Sogou Mobile Assistant. We generate revenue by charging players for virtual items that they purchase in such games, and share a portion of the revenue with the game developers. We also operate third-party web-based games on third-party online game platforms. These platforms charge players directly for virtual items and share a portion of the revenue with us.

Smart Hardware

We generate revenue from sales of Sogou’s various smart devices. We have established a nationwide online and offline distribution network in China that includes third-party e-commerce platforms and retail stores.

Online Lending and Microcredit Services

Prior to September 2020, we offered online lending and microcredit services through mobile applications. We extended loans to qualified borrowers using our own funds and generated revenues through interest and fees. We also provided loan facilitation services, connecting qualified borrowers with established institutional funding partners, and generated revenues through service fees. Pursuant to the terms of the Sogou Merger Agreement, we have ceased expansion of our online lending and microcredit services and have not extended or facilitated any new loans or advances since September 29, 2020.

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Technology

Search Technologies

Our search technologies consist primarily of the following:

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Artificial Intelligence

We are at the forefront of AI development with a clear roadmap for future developments. Focusing on natural interaction and knowledge computing, we have become a leader in language-centered AI capabilities, including speech, computer vision, machine translation, dialogue, and Q&A. In addition to empowering our core Search, Mobile Keyboard, and Smart Hardware businesses with AI, we also integrated the technologies into industry-leading solutions, including AI-powered Vocational Avatars and Simultaneous Interpretation, and expanded their use into multiple sectors.

Below are further details of our key AI technologies and solutions:

Natural Interaction

Natural interaction refers to a series of technologies that include speech, computer vision, machine translation, and dialogue.

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Knowledge Computing

Knowledge computing refers to a series of technologies that include the representation, storage, retrieval, and reasoning of knowledge. We have developed Q&A, technology to answer complex natural language questions from users.

Industry-Leading Solutions

Big Data Capabilities

Hundreds of millions of users of our products and services have generated a vast amount of data across a wide variety of use cases. Our big data capabilities include:

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Intellectual Property

We regard our patents, copyrights, service marks, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual properties as critical to our success. We rely on patents, trademarks, and copyrights; trade secret protection; and non-competition, confidentiality, and license agreements with our employees, customers, partners, and others to protect our intellectual property rights. Before we launch any new products or services, we apply for registration of related patents, trademarks, and software copyrights. Despite our precautions, it may be possible for third parties to obtain and use our intellectual properties without authorization. Furthermore, the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in Internet-related industries are uncertain and still evolving. The laws of the PRC do not protect intellectual properties to the same extent as do the laws of the United States.

As of December 31, 2020, we have been issued 1,353 patents in China and 82 patents in countries and regions outside of China covering inventions, utility models, and designs; we have 1,337 patent applications currently pending in China and 56 patent applications currently pending in countries and regions outside of China; we have submitted 89 international patent applications through the procedures under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT; and we intend to apply for more patents to protect our core technologies and intellectual properties. As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 887 trademarks with the Trademark Office of the CNIPA, including our company’s name “Sogou,” Sogou logos, trademarks relating to our products such as Sogou Input Method, Sogou Map and Teemo, and their corresponding Chinese version marks; and we are in the process of applying for the registration of 287 other trademarks. As of December 31, 2020, we also have 239 trademarks registered outside of Mainland China and we are in the process of applying for registration of 169 trademarks. As of December 31, 2020, we are the registered owner of 237 software copyrights in China, each of which we have registered with the State Copyright Bureau of China. As of December 31, 2020, we own the rights to 157 domain names that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including our Sogou website sogou.com.

Many parties are actively developing search and AI technologies. We expect these parties to continue to take steps to protect these technologies, including seeking patent protection. There may be patents issued or pending that are held by others and cover significant parts of our technology, business methods, or services. We cannot be certain that our products do not or will not infringe valid patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may be subject from time to time to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property of others in the ordinary course of our business. See “—Legal Proceedings”; and “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—We are currently subject to, and in the future may from time to time face, intellectual property infringement claims, which could be time-consuming and costly to defend, and could have an adverse impact our financial position and results of operations, particularly if we are required to pay significant damages or cease offering any of our products or curtail any key features of our products.”

We have licensed 234 patents from Tencent and intend to continue to license technology from Tencent and other third parties. The market is evolving and we may need to license additional technologies to remain competitive. We may not be able to license these technologies on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. In addition, we may fail to successfully integrate any licensed technology into our services. Our inability to obtain or integrate any of these licenses could delay product and service development until alternative technologies can be identified, licensed, and integrated.

Technology Infrastructure

We have built what we believe is a reliable and secure network infrastructure that will fully support our operations. As of December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 30,809 servers located in six Internet data centers in China. We have also obtained what we believe is a sufficient amount of connectivity bandwidth to meet the current and anticipated needs of our operations, and have established a large-scale GPU service cluster to provide computing power for our AI technologies.

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As of December 31, 2020, we had 38 technical support employees to maintain our current technology infrastructure and develop new software features to further enhance the functionality of our management and security systems. We monitor the operation of our server network 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our remote control system allows us to discover and fix problems in the operation of hardware and software in our server network in a timely fashion.

Marketing

We focus on delivering superior user experience through better products and services, which we believe can expand our user base and enhance our brand. Since inception, our user base has grown primarily through word-of-mouth referrals; thus, we have built our brand with modest marketing costs.

While we have benefitted significantly from word-of-mouth marketing, we have also launched marketing campaigns designed to further promote our brand, products, and technologies. In 2020, we focused on marketing our technology through industry-specific applications. This was designed to demonstrate our technological advantages and enhance Sogou's brand image as a leading AI-based solution provider. For example, Sogou has expanded the application of its AI Vocational Avatar technology in various sectors, including AI News Anchors in news broadcasting, AI Virtual Judge in legal services, and AI Customer Service Avatar in financial services. Our proprietary AI Vocational Avatar served as a hostess at various industry summits and our AI-powered Simultaneous Interpretation solutions supported a number of international conferences in such areas as technology, finance, and healthcare.

Competition

Our business consists primarily of search and search-related services. We face intense competition in these areas for both users and advertisers primarily from Baidu, Toutiao of Bytedance, and ShenMa of Alibaba. We also face competition from vertical search service providers, including travel services and information platforms such as Ctrip and Qunar; group-buy platforms such as Meituan Dianping; online classified advertisement platforms such as 58.com, and short video platforms such as Douyin of Bytedance and Kuaishou. We compete for advertisers not only with Internet companies, but also with other types of advertising media such as newspapers and magazines, billboards, bus advertisements, television, and radio.

Our existing and potential competitors compete with us for users and advertisers on the basis of the quality and quantity of search results; the features, availability, and ease of use of products and services; and the number and quality of advertising distribution channels. They also compete with us for talent with technological expertise, which is critical to the sustained development of our products and services.

Employees

We had 2,789, 2,738 and 2,544 employees as of December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. We also employ independent contractors to support our research and development, product development, sales and marketing departments, and had approximately 184 independent contractors on average during the 2020 fiscal year. As of December 31, 2020, 39% of our employees held Master’s degrees or Ph.D.s, and 76% of our employees worked in the research and development department. None of our employees is represented under collective bargaining agreements. The table below sets forth the number of our employees in each functional area as of December 31, 2020.

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We have entered into standard employment agreements with our employees, including our executive officers. These agreements may be terminated by either party, and a terminated employee may be entitled to certain severance benefits upon termination, pursuant to the Labor Contract Law of the PRC. Under the Labor Contract Law, we must pay severance to all employees who are Chinese nationals and who are terminated without cause or terminate their employment with us for good reason, or whose employment agreements expire and we do not continue their employment. The severance benefits required to be paid under the Labor Contract Law equal the average monthly compensation paid to the terminated employee (including any bonuses or other payments made in the twelve months prior to the employee’s termination) multiplied by the number of years the employee has been employed with us, plus an additional month’s salary if 30 days’ prior notice of such termination is not given. However, if the average monthly compensation to be received by the terminated employee exceeds three times the average monthly salary in the employee’s local area as determined and published by the local government, such average monthly compensation is capped at three times the average monthly salary in the employee’s local area.

In addition, our employees have entered into standard confidentiality and non-competition agreements with us. Under the confidentiality agreements, the employees agree not to disclose or otherwise use our confidential information while employed and indefinitely thereafter. Under the non-competition agreements the employees agree not to compete with us during and up to 24 months after the termination of employment with us as long as we pay additional compensation during the non-competition period. The non-competition agreements also provide that the employees’ work product is assigned to us.

We believe the dedication and talent of our employees are critical for our business, and retention of employees is our priority. As part of our retention strategy, we are committed to offering employees an attractive opportunity to work with us as a leading and reputable technology company, providing many opportunities for employees to participate in the development of our new technologies and products, and offering employees competitive salaries and performance-based cash bonuses and equity incentives.

Facilities

We currently lease from Sohu, on an arms-length basis, approximately 18,228 square meters of office space at Sohu.com Internet Plaza in Beijing, China under a lease that expires on December 31, 2022 and may be renewed subject to terms agreed to by Sohu and us. In addition to the office space leased from Sohu, we lease a total of approximately 20,446 square meters of office space in Beijing, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hainan, Guangdong, Anhui, and Tianjin, China from other third parties.

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Value-added Telecommunications Services

The Telecommunications Regulations of the People’s Republic of China, or the Telecom Regulations, implemented on September 25, 2000 and amended on July 29, 2014 and February 6, 2016, are the primary PRC law governing telecommunication services, and set out the general framework for the provision of telecommunication services by domestic PRC companies. The Telecom Regulations require that telecommunications service providers procure operating licenses prior to commencing operations. The Telecom Regulations draw a distinction between “basic telecommunications services,” which we generally do not provide, and “value-added telecommunications services.” The Telecom Regulations define value-added telecommunications services as telecommunications and information services provided through public networks. The Catalogue of Telecommunications Business, or the Catalogue, which was issued as an attachment to the Telecom Regulations and updated in February 2003, December 2015, and June 2019, identifies information services, Internet data centers, Internet access as value-added telecommunications services. We engage in business activities that are value-added telecommunications services as defined and described by the Telecom Regulations and the Catalogue.

On March 5, 2009, the MIIT issued the Measures on the Administration of Telecommunications Business Operating Permits, or the Telecom License Measures, which initially became effective on April 10, 2009 and was amended on July 3, 2017, effective on September 1, 2017, to supplement the Telecom Regulations. The Telecom License Measures confirm that there are two types of telecom operating licenses for operators in China, one for basic telecommunications services and one for value-added telecommunications services. A distinction is also made as to whether a license is granted for “intra-provincial” or “trans-regional” (inter-provincial) activities. An appendix to each license granted will detail the permitted activities of the enterprise to which it was granted. An approved telecommunication services operator must conduct its business (whether basic or value-added) in accordance with the specifications recorded in its Telecommunications Services Operating License.

On January 13, 2020, the MIIT issued to Sogou Information renewed Value-added Telecommunications Services Operating Licenses which authorize the provision of Internet data centers, and Internet access, which are classified as value-added telecommunication services. Holders of Value-added Telecommunications Services Operating Licenses are required to submit reports to the MIIT annually.

Foreign Direct Investment in Value-added Telecommunications Companies

Various PRC regulations currently restrict foreign-invested entities from engaging in value-added telecommunication services, including providing Internet information services and operating online games. Foreign direct investment in telecommunications companies in China is regulated by the Regulations for the Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, or the FITE Regulations, which were issued by the PRC State Council, or State Council, on December 11, 2001, became effective on January 1, 2002 and were amended on September 10, 2008 and February 6, 2016, respectively. The FITE Regulations stipulate that foreign invested telecommunications enterprises in the PRC (“FITEs”) must be established as Sino-foreign equity joint ventures. Under the FITE Regulations and in accordance with WTO-related agreements, the foreign party to a FITE engaging in value-added telecommunications services may hold up to 50% of the equity of the FITE, with no geographic restrictions on the FITE’s operations. On June 30, 2016, the MIIT issued an Announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Issues concerning the Provision of Telecommunication Services in Mainland China by Service Providers from Hong Kong and Macau, or the MIIT Announcement, which provides that investors from Hong Kong and Macau may hold more than 50% of the equity in FITEs engaging in certain specified categories of value-added telecommunications services.

For a FITE to acquire any equity interest in a value-added telecommunications business in China, it must satisfy a number of stringent performance and operational experience requirements, including demonstrating a track record and experience in operating a value-added telecommunications business overseas. FITEs that meet these requirements must obtain approvals from the MIIT and the MOFCOM or their authorized local branches, which retain considerable discretion in granting approvals.

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On July 13, 2006, the MIIT issued the Notice of the Ministry of Information Industry on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-added Telecommunications Services, or the MIIT Notice, which reiterates certain provisions of the FITE Regulations. Under the MIIT Notice, if a FITE intends to invest in a PRC value-added telecommunications business, the FITE must be established and must apply for a telecommunications business license applicable to the business. Under the MIIT Notice, a domestic company that holds a license for the provision of Internet information services, or an ICP license, is considered to be a type of value-added telecommunications business in China, and is prohibited from leasing, transferring or selling the license to foreign investors in any form, and from providing any assistance, including providing resources, sites or facilities, to foreign investors to conduct value-added telecommunications businesses illegally in China. Trademarks and domain names that are used in the provision of Internet content services must be owned by the ICP license holder or its shareholders. The MIIT Notice requires each ICP license holder to have appropriate facilities for its approved business operations and to maintain such facilities in the regions covered by its license. Our VIEs, rather than our subsidiaries, hold ICP licenses, own our domain names, and hold or have applied for registration in the PRC of trademarks related to our business and own and maintain facilities that we believe are appropriate for our business operations.

In view of these restrictions on foreign direct investment in the value-added telecommunications sector, we established domestic VIEs to engage in value-added telecommunications services. For a detailed discussion of our VIEs, please refer to “Our History and Corporate Structure” above. Due to a lack of interpretative materials from the relevant PRC governmental authorities, there are uncertainties regarding whether PRC governmental authorities would consider our corporate structure and contractual arrangements to constitute foreign ownership of a value-added telecommunications business. See “Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.” In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements, we operate a portion of our business through our VIEs, with which we have contractual relationships but in which we do not have an actual ownership interest. If our current ownership structure is found to be in violation of current or future PRC laws, rules or regulations regarding the legality of foreign investment in the PRC Internet sector, we could be subject to severe penalties.

Provision of Internet Content

Internet Information Services

On September 25, 2000, the State Council issued the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services (the “ICP Measures”), which were amended on January 08, 2011. Under the ICP Measures, entities that provide information to online users on the Internet, or ICPs, are obliged to obtain an operating license from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial or municipal level in accordance with the Telecom Regulations described above.

The ICP Measures further stipulate that entities providing online information services regarding news, publishing, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment must procure the consent of the national authorities responsible for such areas prior to applying for an operating license from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial or municipal level. Moreover, ICPs must display their operating license numbers in conspicuous locations on their home pages. ICPs are required to police their Internet platforms and remove certain prohibited content. Many of these requirements mirror Internet content restrictions that have been announced previously by PRC ministries, such as the MIIT, the Ministry of Culture (the “MOC”), and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (the “SAPPRFT”), that derive their authority from the State Council.

On October 15, 2020, the Beijing Telecom Administration (the “BTA”) issued to Sogou Information a renewed Telecommunications and Information Services Operating License (an “ICP license”). Sogou Information is required to submit a reports to the BTA annually.

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Online News Search Services

On May 2, 2017, the Administrative Regulations for Internet News Information Services, or the News Regulations, were promulgated by the Cyberspace Administration of China to replace the previous Administrative Regulations for Internet News Information Services, or the Old News Regulations, issued by the State Council Information Office (the "SCIO")and the MIIT on September 25, 2005, pursuant to which Internet news information services include services of collecting, editing, and releasing Internet news information, reposting such news information, and providing a platform to spread such news information. On May 22, 2017, the Detailed Implementing Rules of Administration of Internet News Information Services Approval, or the Detailed Implementing Rules, were promulgated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, effective on June 1, 2017. The News Regulations and the Detailed Implementing Rules require the general Websites of non-news organizations to apply to the SCIO at the national level for approval after securing the consent of the SCIO at the provincial level before they commence providing news dissemination services. There is uncertainty as to whether the provision of news search services and aggregation of news links fit within the definition of news dissemination services. Sogou Information is currently in the process of applying for an online news service license.

Internet Publishing

On February 4, 2016, the SAPPRFT and MIIT jointly issued the Rules for the Administration for Internet Publishing Services (the “Internet Publishing Rules”), which took effect on March 10, 2016, to replace Tentative Measures for Internet Publishing that had been jointly issued by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT on June 27, 2002. The Internet Publishing Rules define “Internet publications” as digital works that are edited, produced, or processed to be published and provided to the public through the Internet, including (a) original digital works, such as pictures, maps, games, and comics; (b) digital works with content that is consistent with the type of content that, prior to the Internet age, typically was published in media such as books, newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products, and electronic publications; (c) digital works in the form of online databases compiled by selecting, arranging, and compiling other types of digital works; and (d) other types of digital works identified by the SAPPRFT. Under the Internet Publishing Rules, Internet operators distributing such Internet publications via information network are required to apply for an Internet publishing license with the relevant governmental authorities and submit the application, if approved, to the SAPPRFT for approval before distributing Internet publications. Sogou Information plans to apply for an Internet publishing license.

Internet Audio-visual Program Services

On December 20, 2007, the SAPPRFT and MIIT jointly issued the Administrative Provisions for the Internet Audio- Visual Program Service, or the Audio-visual Program Provisions, which came into effect on January 31, 2008 and was amended on August 28, 2015. The Audio-visual Program Provisions define “Internet audio-visual programs services” as the production, edition and integration of audio-video programs, the supply of audio-video programs to the public via the Internet, and the provision of upload and audio-video programs transmission services to a third party. Entities engaging in Internet audio-visual programs services must obtain an internet audio-visual program transmission license, which will only be issued to state-owned or state-controlled entities unless the license applicant has obtained an Internet audio-visual program transmission license prior to the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions in accordance with the then-in-effect laws and regulations. According to the Categories of the Internet Audio-Video Program Services promulgated by SAPPRFT on March 10, 2017, “aggregation of Internet audio-visual programs”, which means “editing and arranging the Internet audio-visual programs on the same website and providing searching and watching services to public users”, falls into the definition of the aforementioned “Internet audio-visual programs services.” Sogou information is currently in the process of negotiating with an entity that had obtained an Internet audio-visual program transmission license in order to acquire all of the equity interests in such entity, which is a common market practice for companies, such as us, that are not wholly state-owned or state-controlled entities.

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Online Cultural Products

On May 10, 2003, the MOC issued the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture, or the Online Culture Regulations, which took effect on July 1, 2003 and were amended on July 1, 2004. On February 17, 2011, the MOC issued the new Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture, or the New Online Culture Regulations, which took effect on April 1, 2011, to replace the previous regulations. The New Online Culture Regulations apply to entities engaging in activities related to “Internet cultural products,” which include those cultural products that are produced specially for Internet use, such as online music and entertainment, online games, online plays, online performances, online works of art and Web animations, and those cultural products that, through technical means, produce or reproduce music, entertainment, games, plays and other art works for Internet dissemination. Pursuant to the New Online Culture Regulations, commercial entities are required to apply to the relevant local branch of the MOC for an Online Culture Operating Permit if they engage in any of the following types of activities:

On July 1, 2016, the MOC issued a Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Online Performance, or the Online Performance Notice and on December 2, 2016, issued the Measures of Administration of Online Performance Operating Activities, or Online Performance Measures, which became effective on January 1, 2017. The Online Performance Notice and the Online Performance Measures both stipulate that online performance service providers must obtain an Online Culture Operating Permit and that online performances must not contain any content that is horrific, cruel, violent, vulgar or humiliating in nature, mocks persons with disabilities, includes photographs or video clips that infringe third parties’ privacy or other rights, features animal abuse, or presents characters and other features of online games that have not been registered and approved for publication by applicable PRC governmental authorities.

On August 20, 2020, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism issued a renewed Online Culture Operating Permit to Sogou Information authorizing Sogou Information to provide relevant online services.

Mobile Internet Applications Information Services

On June 28, 2016, the CAOC issued the Provisions on the Administration of Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, or the APP Provisions, which became effective on August 1, 2016. Under the APP Provisions, mobile application providers and application store service providers are prohibited from engaging in any activity that may endanger national security, disturb the social order, or infringe the legal rights of third parties, and may not produce, copy, issue or disseminate through mobile applications any content prohibited by laws and regulations. The APP Provisions also require application providers to procure relevant approval to provide services through such applications and require application store service providers to register with local branches of the CAOC within 30 days after they start providing application store services. Sogou information has filed an application for registration with the competent local branch of the CAOC with respect to our provision of application store services.

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Internet Map Services

Under the Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Internet Map and Geographic Information Services and the Notices on Further Strengthening the Management of Internet Map Services Permit issued on February 25, 2008 and December 23, 2011, respectively, by the State Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geo-information (the “SASMG,” formerly known as the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping) and the Administrative Regulations on Maps issued by the State Council on November 26, 2015, effective on January 1, 2016, any provider of Internet map services must obtain the approval of the SASMG or its local branches and a Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate in order to provide such services. In addition, providers of Internet map services must use maps obtained through government-approved channels and display the SASMG approval number, the Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate number and the Telecommunications Services Operating License number in conspicuous locations on their Websites.

On July 1, 2014, the SASMG issued the Administrative Regulations on Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate and Classification Standard on Surveying and Mapping Qualification Certificate (the “SASMG Regulations and Standards”) effective on August 1, 2014, to replace previous regulations issued on April 16, 2004 and March 12, 2009. Under the SASMG Regulations and Standards, there are two types of Surveying and Mapping Qualification certificates that may be issued to providers of Internet map services. A Class A certificate allows a holder to provide (i) map-location services, (ii) geo-information uploading and dimension services, and (iii) geo-information database development services, while a holder of a Class B certificate may only provide the first two types of services.

On July 26, 2016, the SASMG and the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs (the “OCLGCA”) jointly issued a Notice on Standardizing the Usage of Maps by Internet Services Providers (the “Maps Usage Notice”), which stipulates that all the Internet service providers must review and use maps in accordance with the PRC Surveying and Mapping Law and Administrative Regulations on Maps. The Maps Usage Notice requires that maps displayed by Internet service providers be obtained through government-approved channels and identify their sources and censor numbers. Internet service providers are prohibited from using maps obtained from unaccredited sources, including foreign Websites. All maps, other than scenic maps, block maps, subway maps and other simple maps, must be reviewed by PRC governmental authorities before they are published, and must not contain any information or content specified as prohibited in the Maps Usage Notice.

On January 1, 2015, Sogou Information obtained a renewed Class A Certificate of Surveying and Mapping Qualification from the SASMG.

Internet Pharmaceuticals Information Dissemination

Under the Measures for the Administration of Internet Pharmaceuticals Information Services (the “Pharmaceuticals Information Services Measures”) issued on July 8, 2004 and amended on November 17, 2017 by the State Food and Drug Administration (the “SFDA”), approval of the SFDA or one of its local branches is required before a Website may disseminate information concerning pharmaceuticals.

Under the Pharmaceuticals Information Services Measures, pharmaceutical (including medical equipment) information provided by Websites must be scientific and accurate. Furthermore, medical and pharmaceutical (including medical equipment) advertisements published by such Websites must be reviewed and approved by SFDA and must not exaggerate the efficacy or promote the medical uses of such products.

On September 18, 2020, Sogou Information obtained a renewed Internet Pharmaceuticals Information Services Qualification Certificate (operational) and a renewed Internet Pharmaceuticals Information Services Qualification Certificate (non-operational) from the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration.

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Online Advertising Services

On April 24, 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “New Advertising Law”), which became effective on September 1, 2015 and was amended on October 26, 2018. The New Advertising Law, which was a major overhaul of an advertising law enacted in 1994, increases the potential legal liability of providers of advertising services, and includes provisions intended to strengthen identification of false advertising and the power of governmental authorities. On July 4, 2016, the SAMR issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Advertising (the “SAMR Interim Measures”), effective on September 1, 2016. The New Advertising Law and the SAMR Interim Measures both provide that advertisements posted or published through the Internet may not affect users’ normal usage of a network, and advertisements published in the form of pop-up windows on the Internet must display a “close” sign prominently and ensure one-key closing of the pop-up windows. The SAMR Interim Measures provide that all online advertisements must be marked “Advertisement” so that viewers can easily identify them as such. Moreover, the SAMR Interim Measures treat pay-for-click search results as advertisements that are subject to PRC advertisement laws, and require that pay-for-click search results be conspicuously identified on search result pages as advertisements. The New Advertising Law and SAMR Interim Measures will require us to conduct more stringent examination and monitoring of our advertisers and the content of their advertisements.

On April 13, 2016, the SAMR and sixteen other PRC government agencies jointly issued a Notice of Campaign to Crack Down on Illegal Internet Finance Advertisements and Other Financial Activities in the Name of Investment Management (the “Campaign Notice”), pursuant to which a campaign was conducted between April 2016 and January 2017 targeting, among other things, online advertisements for Internet finance and other financial activities posted on online search portals, such as ours, and other portal, financial, real estate, P2P, and investment product sales services Websites. The SAMR Interim Measures treat pay-for-click search results as advertisements subject to PRC laws governing advertisements, require that pay-for-click search results be conspicuously identified on search result pages as advertisements and subject revenues from such advertisements to a 3% PRC tax that is applied to advertising revenues. In order to comply with these regulations, we have established more stringent standards for selecting advertisers for our pay-for-click services, have turned down certain existing advertisers, and have lowered the percentage that pay-for-click search results represent of results on our search pages.

Search Services

On August 18, 2009, the MOC issued a Notice on Strengthening and Improving the Content Censorship of Online Music Content, or the MOC Notice, which was abolished by the MOC on August 25, 2016. On October 23, 2015, the MOC issued a Notice on Further Strengthening and Improving the Administration of Content of Online Music, or the MOC Further Notice, which became effective on January 1, 2016. The MOC Notice and the MOC Further Notice provide that providing direct links to online music will constitute engaging in the online music business, and that therefore an Online Culture Operating Permit is required for providing such search services. Sogou Information applied for an Online Culture Operating Permit and received it on December 31, 2010. The permit was renewed on August 20, 2020.

On June 25, 2016, the CAOC issued Measures for the Administration of Online Information Search Services, or the CAOC Measures, which became effective on August 1, 2016. The CAOC Measures, like the SAMR Interim Measures, require that providers of online search services verify the credentials of pay-for-click advertisers, specify a maximum percentage that pay-for-click search results may represent of results on a search page, conspicuously identify pay-for-click search results as such.

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Online Games and Cultural Products

In September 2009, the SAPPRFT, together with the National Copyright Administration (the “NCA”), and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening on the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval of Online Game and the Examination and Approval of Imported Online Game, the SAPPRFT Online Game Notice. The SAPPRFT Online Game Notice states that foreign investors are not permitted to invest in online game operating businesses in the PRC via wholly foreign-owned entities, Sino-foreign equity joint ventures or cooperative joint ventures or to exercise control over or participate in the operation of domestic online game businesses through indirect means, such as other joint venture companies or contractual or technical arrangements. If the VIE structure of Sogou was deemed under the SAPPRFT Online Game Notice to be an “indirect means” for foreign investors to exercise control over or participate in the operation of a domestic online game business, the VIE structure of Sogou might be challenged by the SAPPRFT. We are not aware of any online game companies which use the same or similar VIE contractual arrangements as those Sogou uses having been challenged by the SAPPRFT as using those VIE arrangements as an “indirect means” for foreign investors to exercise control over or participate in the operation of a domestic online game business or having been penalized or ordered to terminate operations since the SAPPRFT Online Game Notice first became effective. However it is unclear whether and how the SAPPRFT Online Game Notice might be interpreted or implemented in the future.

On February 21, 2008, the SAPPRFT issued the Rules for the Administration of Electronic Publications, or the Electronic Publication Rules, which were amended on August 28, 2015. The Electronic Publication Rules regulate the production, publishing and importation of electronic publications in the PRC and outline a licensing system for business operations involving electronic publishing. Under the Electronic Publication Rules and other related regulations issued by the SAPPRFT, online games are classified as a type of electronic publication or Internet publication that may only be provided by a licensed electronic publishing entity with a standard publication code, and establishment of an electronic publishing entity must be approved by the SAPPRFT. Electronic publishing entities are responsible for assuring that the content of electronic publications comply with relevant PRC laws and regulations, and must obtain the approval of the SAPPRFT before publishing foreign electronic publications. The Tentative Measures for Internet Publication Administration, or the Internet Publication Measures, which were jointly promulgated by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT and became effective in 2002, impose a license requirement for any company that intends to engage in Internet publishing, which is defined as any act by an ICP to select, edit and process content or programs and to make such content or programs publicly available on the Internet. As the provision of online games is deemed to be an Internet publication activity, an online game operator must obtain an Internet publishing license and an authorization code for each of its games in operation in order to directly make those games publicly available in the PRC. Although the Internet Publication Measures do not specifically authorize such a practice, an online game operator is generally able to publish its games and obtain authorization codes for those games through third-party licensed electronic publishing entities and register the games with the SAPPRFT as electronic publications. The Rules for the Administration of Internet Publishing Services, which were issued by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT effective March 10, 2016 and replaced the Internet Publication Measures, require that entities in the Internet publishing business must apply for an online publication license and obtain approval from the SAPPRFT prior to the publication of new online games. In addition, under the Internet Publishing Rules Sino-foreign joint ventures and foreign-invested entities are not permitted to engage in Internet publication services, and the legal representative of an entity providing Internet publication services may not be a foreigner.

The MOC issued the New Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture (the “Online Culture Regulations”), which took effect on April 1, 2011 and replaced the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture. The Online Culture Regulations apply to entities engaging in activities related to “Internet cultural products,” which include cultural products that are produced specifically for Internet use, such as online music and entertainment, online games, online plays, online performances, online works of art and Web animation, and other online cultural products that through technical means, produce or reproduce music, entertainment, games, plays and other art works for Internet dissemination. Under the Online Culture Regulations, commercial entities are required to apply to the relevant local branch of the MOC for an Online Culture Operating Permit if they engage in the production, duplication, importation, release or broadcasting of Internet cultural products, the dissemination of online cultural products on the Internet or the transmission of such products via Internet or mobile phone networks to user terminals, such as computers, phones, television sets and gaming consoles, or Internet surfing service sites such as Internet cafés; or the holding or exhibition of contests related to Internet cultural products.

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The Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Games (the “Online Game Measures”) issued by the MOC, which took effect on August 1, 2010, regulate a broad range of activities related to the online games business, including the development, production and operation of online games, the issuance of virtual currencies used for online games, and the provision of virtual currency trading services. The Online Game Measures provide that any entity that is engaged in online game operations must obtain an Online Culture Operating Permit, and require the content of an imported online game to be examined and approved by the MOC prior to the game’s launch and a domestic online game to be filed with the MOC within 30 days after its launch.

In May 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (the “MCT”), as a successor agency to the MOC, issued a notice which provides that the MCT is no longer responsible for regulating the online-game industry and that its local branches are no longer responsible for granting new Online Culture Operating

Permits, or renewing any existing permits after their expiration, for online games. In July 2019, the MCT abolished the Online Game Measures. As of the date of this annual report, it is not clear whether another PRC governmental agency will be designated to supervise the online game industry, whether a new permit or license that is similar to the Online Cultural Operating Permit will be required of online games operators for their games, or whether imported games will be required to obtain governmental approval before their launch.

The Notice on Strengthening the Approval and Administration of Imported Online Games, or the SAPPRFT Imported Online Game Notice, which was issued by the SAPPRFT and took effect on July 1, 2009, states that the SAPPRFT is the only governmental department authorized by the State Council to approve the importation of online games from offshore copyright owners, and that any enterprise which engages in online game publication and operation services within the PRC must have the game examined and approved by the SAPPRFT and receive from the SAPPRFT an Internet publishing license.

Administrative Measures for Content Self-Review by Internet Culture Business Entities, or the Content Self-Review Administrative Measure, which took effect in December 2013, requires Internet culture business entities to review the content of products and services to be provided prior to providing such content and services to the public. The content management system of an Internet culture business entity is required to specify the responsibilities, standards and processes for content review as well as accountability measures, and is required to be filed with the local provincial branch of the MOC.

In January 2014, the SAMR promulgated the Administrative Measures for Online Trading or (the “Online Trading Measures”), which took effect on March 15, 2014, and replaced the Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Commodities Trading and Relevant Services issued by the SAMR, which took effect on July 1, 2010. The Online Trading Measures regulate online commodity trading and related activities. The Online Trading Measures require that when selling commodities or providing services to consumers, online operators must comply with all applicable laws with respect to the protection of consumer rights and interests, intellectual property rights of others and the prevention of unfair competition. Information provided with respect to commodities and services provided by online commodity operators or related service operators must be accurate. If they fail to comply with all requirements of the Online Trading Measures, the local branch of the SAMR or other governmental authorities could impose fines or other penalties on them.

Information Security and Censorship

Pursuant to the Announcement of Special Supervision Against Illegal Collection and Use of Personal Information through Internet Applications, which was issued on January 23, 2019, operators of Internet applications must collect and use personal information of users in compliance with the Cybersecurity Law of the PRC (the “PRC Cybersecurity Law”), which took effect on June 1, 2017, and other laws and regulations, display the terms of service and privay policy in clear language, and specify the purpose and methods that may be used for data collection, take such technical and other measures as are necessary to safeguard personal information obtained from users, and not attempt to coerce users to authorize any such collection and use by way of bundling, suspending the installation of or access to the Internet applications, or other similar means. These requirements were emphasized by a Notice on the Special Rectification of APPs Infringement of User's Personal Rights and Interests, which was issued by MIIT on October 31, 2019.

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On October 21, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC jointly issued an interpretation, effective on November 1, 2019, which clarifies the definition of Internet service provider and the nature and scope of activities of Internet service providers that are prohibited, such as the failure to provide adequate Internet security over, and engagement in and assistance with criminal activities through, the Internet networks and properties such Internet service providers operate.

On November 7, 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the PRC Cybersecurity Law, which took effect on June 1, 2017. The PRC Cybersecurity Law applies to the construction, operation, maintenance, and use of networks as well as the supervision and administration of Internet security in the PRC. The PRC Cybersecurity Law defines “networks” as systems that are composed of computers or other information terminals and relevant facilities used for the purpose of collecting, storing, transmitting, exchanging, and processing information in accordance with certain rules and procedures. “Network operators,” who are broadly defined as owners and administrator of networks and network service providers, are subject to various security protection-related obligations including:

Under the PRC Cybersecurity Law, network service providers must inform users and report to the relevant governmental authorities any known security defects or bugs, and must provide constant security maintenance services for their products and services. Network products and service providers may not contain or provide malware. Network service providers who do not comply with the PRC Cybersecurity Law may be subject to fines, suspension of their businesses, shutdown of their websites, and revocation of their business licenses.

On May 2, 2017, the Cyberspace Administration issued the Measures for Security Review of Cyber Products and Services (for Trial Implementation), or the Cybersecurity Review Measures, which came into effect on June 1, 2017. Under the Cybersecurity Review Measures, the following cyber products and services will be subject to cybersecurity review:

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The Cyberspace Administration is responsible for organizing and implementing cybersecurity reviews, while the competent departments in key industries such as finance, telecommunications, energy, and transport are responsible for organizing and implementing security review of cyber products and services in their respective industries and fields. There are still substantial uncertainties with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the Cybersecurity Review Measures.

Internet content in the PRC is also regulated and restricted from a State security standpoint. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the Decision Regarding the Safeguarding of Internet Security, or the Decision in 2000, and amended it in August, 2009. The Decision makes it unlawful to: (i) gain improper entry into a computer or system of strategic importance; (ii) disseminate politically disruptive information; (iii) leak State secrets; (iv) spread false commercial information; or (v) infringe intellectual property rights. The Ministry of Public Security has promulgated measures that prohibit the use of the Internet in ways which, among other things, result in a leakage of State secrets or distribution of socially destabilizing content. The Ministry of Public Security has supervision and inspection rights in this regard. If an ICP license holder violates these measures, the PRC government may revoke its ICP license and shut down its Websites.

In July 2005, the MOC and the MIIT jointly promulgated the Opinions on the Development and Administration of Online Games emphasizing the PRC government’s intent to foster and control the development of the online game industry in the PRC and providing that the MOC will censor online games that “threaten state security,” “disturb the social order,” or contain “obscenity” or “violence.”

Protection of Minors

On April 15, 2007, the MIIT, the SAPPRFT, the Ministry of Education and five other governmental authorities jointly issued a Notice on the Implementation of Online Game Anti-Fatigue System to Protect the Physical and Psychological Health of Minors, or the Anti-Fatigue Notice. Pursuant to the Anti-Fatigue Notice, online game operators are required to install an “anti-fatigue system” that discourages game players from playing games for more than five hours per day. Under the anti-fatigue system, three hours or less of continuous play by minors is considered to be “healthy,” three to five hours to be “fatiguing,” and five hours or more to be “unhealthy.” Game operators are required to reduce the value of in-game benefits to a game player by half if the game player has reached “fatiguing” level, and to zero in the case of “unhealthy” level.

To identify whether a game player is a minor and thus subject to the anti-fatigue system, there was adopted a real-name registration system, which requires online game players to register their real identity information before they play online games and requires us to submit the identity information of game players to the public security authorities for verification. On July 1, 2011, the SAPPRFT, the MIIT, the Ministry of Education and five other governmental authorities issued a Notice on Initializing the verification of Real-name Registration for Anti-Fatigue System on Internet Games (the “Real-name Registration Notice”), which took effect on October 1, 2011, to strengthen the implementation of the anti-fatigue system and real-name registration. The Real-name Registration Notice’s main focus is to prevent minors from using an adult’s ID to play Internet games and, accordingly, the Real-name Registration Notice imposes stringent punishments on online game operators that do not implement the required anti-fatigue and real-name registration measures properly and effectively. The most severe punishment contemplated by the Real-name Registration Notice is to require termination of the operation of the online game if the game is found to be in violation of the Anti-Fatigue Notice, the Monitor System Circular or the Real-name Registration Notice. We developed our own anti-fatigue and real-name registration systems for our games, and implemented them beginning in 2007. Under our systems, game players must use real identification in order to create accounts, and in this way, we are able to tell which of our game players are minors and thus subject to these regulations. For game players who do not register, we assume that they are minors. In order to comply with the anti-fatigue rules, game players under eighteen years of age only receive half of the experience time they actually earn after three hours of play. And, after five hours of play, minors receive no experience points. We use this system to disincentivize minors from playing in excess of five hours at a time.

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On January 15, 2011, the MOC, the MIIT and six other central governmental authorities jointly issued a circular entitled Implementation of Online Game Monitor System of the Guardians of Minors, or the Monitor System Circular, aiming to provide specific protection measures to monitor the online game activities of minors and curb addictive online game playing behaviors of minors. Under the Monitor System Circular, online game operators are required to adopt various measures to maintain a system to communicate with the parents or other guardians of minors playing online games and online game operators are required to monitor the online game activities of minors, and must suspend the account of a minor if so requested by the minor’s parents or guardians. The monitor system was formally implemented commencing March 1, 2011.

In February 2013, 15 PRC governmental authorities, including the SAPPRFT, the Ministry of Education, the MOC and the MIIT, jointly issued the Work Plan for the Integrated Prevention of Minors Online Game Addiction (the “Work Plan”), implementing integrated measures by various authorities designed to prevent minors from being addicted to online games. Under the Work Plan, the current relevant regulations regarding online games will be further clarified and additional implementation rules will be issued, and online game operators will be required to implement measures to protect minors.

On July 25, 2014, the SAPPRFT promulgated a Notice on Further Carrying out the Verification of Real-name Registration for Anti-Fatigue System on Internet Games, or the Verification of Real-name Registration Notice, which took effect on October 1, 2014. The Verification of Real-name Registration Notice requires local press and publication administrative departments to strengthen their oversight of enterprises engaged in the publication and operation of online games, and requires such enterprises to strictly abide by anti-fatigue and real-name registration requirements when developing and promoting online games, excluding, at present, mobile games.

On October 25, 2019, the National Press and Publication Administration issued the Notice on Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games (the “Anti-addiction Notice”), which took effect on October 25, 2019. The Anti-addiction Notice stipulates that online game operators must require real name registration by their users and must not provide game services to users who have not completed their real -name registrations. The Anti-addiction Notice also provides restrictions on the types of, time of day and length of the daily use of, and maximum amounts per transaction and per month paid for, online game services offered by online game operators to minors.

Virtual Currency

On February 15, 2007, the MOC, the PBOC and other relevant governmental authorities jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Administration of Internet Cafés and Online Games, or the Internet Cafés and Online Games Notice. Under the Internet Cafés and Online Games Notice, the PBOC is directed to strengthen the administration of virtual currency in online games to avoid any adverse impact on the economy and financial system. The Internet Cafés and Online Games Notice limits the total amount of virtual currency that may be issued by online game operators and the amount that may be purchased by individual game players, and includes a clear division between virtual transactions and real transactions carried out by way of electronic commerce. The Internet Cafés and Online Games Notice also provides that virtual currency may only be used to purchase virtual items.

On June 4, 2009, the MOC and the MOFCOM jointly issued the Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Online Game Virtual Currency or the Virtual Currency Notice to regulate the trading of online game virtual currencies. The Virtual Currency Notice defines the meaning of Online Game virtual currency and places a set of restrictions on the trading and issuance of virtual currency. The Virtual Currency Notice also states that online game operators are not allowed to give out virtual items or virtual currency through lottery-based activities, such as lucky draws, betting or random computer sampling, in exchange for user’s cash or virtual money. The Virtual Currency Notice is mainly targeted at lottery-based activities relating to the “treasure boxes” found in some online games.

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On July 20, 2009, the MOC promulgated the Filing Guidelines for Online Game Virtual Currency Issuing Enterprises and Online Game Virtual Currency Trading Enterprises, which define the terms “issuing enterprise” and “trading enterprise” and stipulate that a single enterprise may not be both an issuing enterprise and a trading enterprise.

Regulation of Online Lending and Microcredit Services

Online Lending and Microcredit Services

On July 18, 2015, the Guidelines on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Online Finance Industry (the “Fin-Tech Guidelines”) were jointly promulgated by ten PRC governmental authorities, including the PBOC, the MIIT, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission (the “CBRC”). The Fin-Tech Guidelines actively encourage innovation of internet financial platforms, products, and services for the purpose of increasing market vitality. The Fin-Tech Guidelines also require companies providing Internet finance services to, among other requirements, engage eligible banking institutions to act as fund depositories for client funds; have adequate procedures for the protection of the personal information of clients; and to not improperly buy, sell, or disclose such personal information.

Circular 141, which was jointly issued by the Head Office for Special Rectification against Internet Finance Risks and the Head Office for Special Rectification against Peer-to-Peer Online Lending Risks on December 1, 2017, stipulates general requirements for “cash loan” businesses conducted by online microcredit companies, banking institutions, and online lending information intermediaries, and specifies general requirements and guidelines with respect to cash loan businesses, such as governmental pre-approval requirements, limits on interest rates and overall costs to borrowers, "know-your-customer" requirements, borrower eligibility assessment requirements, a prohibition on collection of loans using violence, and protection of customers' personal information. The aggregate borrowing costs charged to borrowers by cash loan businesses in the form of interest and various fees must comply with guidelines on interest rates applicable to private lending issued from time to time by the Supreme People’s Court, such as those set forth in the Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretation. In addition, Circular 141 prohibits online microcredit companies from facilitating loans to students, making loans that are not made with the use of proceeds specified or that are to be used for down payments or speculative trading, and funding loans using illegal sources of funds.

Circular 141 also stipulates that a banking institution that offers cash loans through loan facilitation is prohibited from (i) accepting credit enhancement or other similar services from third parties that lack requisite licenses to provide guarantees; (ii) outsourcing credit assessment, risk control, and other key functions to a loan facilitation operator; and (iii) allowing the loan facilitation operator to charge any interest or fees from the borrower. In addition, CBIRC Circular 37 states that institutions that provide services such as customer recommendations and evaluation of credit to lending institutions may not provide financial guarantee services without approval of regulatory authorities. Although we believe that our operation of our online lending and microcredit loan facilitation business should not be deemed to be operation of a financial guarantee business, relevant PRC regulatory authorities might not share the same view as ours, as the exact definition and scope of operating a financial guarantee business remain unclear. If we were deemed to be operating a financial guarantee business, we would be subject to PRC laws and regulations, such as Circular 141 and CBIRC Circular 37, concerning the financial guarantee business.

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The Guidance on the Pilot Establishment of Microcredit Companies, jointly promulgated by the CBRC and the PBOC on May 4, 2008 (the “Pilot Guidance”), provides guidance on capital source and utilization requirements and restrictions and on the management and operation of microcredit companies. The Pilot Guidance also provides that the establishment of a microcredit company is subject to approval of the competent governmental authority at the provincial level. The People’s Government of Guangdong Province promulgated the Guidance on the Implementation of Pilot Microcredit Companies, on January 14, 2009, and the Interim Administrative Measures on Microcredit Companies of Guangdong Province, on January 23, 2009, which specify the principles, scope, and timeline of a pilot program and pilot joint meeting system; the role of certain governmental authorities; requirements for the establishment, organization, and management of microcredit companies; and supervision and risk prevention rules with respect to microcredit companies in Guangdong province. On March 6, 2017, the Financial Work Bureau of the People’s Government of Shantou, which is a city in Guangdong Province, promulgated the Regulatory Guidance on Online Microcredit Companies Established in Shantou (for Trial Implementation), which sets forth regulatory requirements for the establishment, business requirements, submission of information, and management of risks of online microcredit companies established in Shantou.

Our subsidiary Sogou (Shantou) Internet Microcredit Co., Ltd. (“Sogou Microcredit”) has obtained the key governmental approvals and licenses required under current PRC laws and regulations for the conduct of a microcredit business. However, as the regulatory regime and practices with respect to online microcredit companies are evolving, there is uncertainty as to how the various requirements discussed above will be interpreted and implemented and whether there will be new rules issued which would establish further requirements and restrictions on microcredit companies.

Loans and Interest Rates

The PRC Civil Code recognizes the validity of loan agreements between natural persons and provides that a loan agreement becomes effective when an individual lender provides the loan to an individual borrower, but requires interest rates charged under a loan agreement to comply with applicable PRC laws and regulations. The Private Lending Judicial Interpretations issued by the Supreme People’s Court in August 2015 and effective in September 2015 specify that loan agreements for loans with annual interest rates below 24% are valid and enforceable. With respect to a loan with an annual interest rate between 24% and 36%, if the interest on the loan has already been paid to the lender and such payment has not caused damage to the interests of the state, the community, or any third parties, the Private Lending Judicial Interpretations indicted that courts will be likely to dismiss a borrower’s demand for return of the interest payments. If the annual interest rate of a private loan is higher than 36%, the portion of the interest exceeding the maximum interest rate is invalid. The Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations provide that, beginning August 20, 2020, PRC courts will not enforce the collection of interest on one-year loans to the extent that the interest exceeds four times the prime rate for one-year loans published by the National Interbank Funding Center. The Reply of the Supreme People’s Court to the Application of Law to the Provisions Applicable to Private Lending Cases promulgated by the Supreme People’s Court on December 29, 2020 stipulates that microcredit companies are financial institutions established with the approval of the financial regulatory authorities and that the Revised Private Lending Judicial Interpretations are not directly applicable to the loan business of microcredit companies.

Laws and Regulations Related to Intellectual Property Protection

China has adopted comprehensive legislation governing intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents and trademarks.

Copyright

On September 7, 1990, The National People’s Congress promulgated the Copyright Law, which took effect on June 1, 1991 and was amended in 2001, 2010 and 2020. The 2020 amended Copyright Law will take effect on June 1, 2021. The amended Copyright Law extends copyright protection to Internet activities, products disseminated over the Internet and software products. In addition, there is a voluntary registration system administered by the China Copyright Protection Center. The amended Copyright Law also requires registration of the pledge of a copyright.

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In order to further implement the Computer Software Protection Regulations, promulgated by the State Council on December 20, 2001 and amended on January 8, 2011 and January 30, 2013, the NCA issued Computer Software Copyright Registration Procedures on February 20, 2002, which specify detailed procedures and requirements with respect to the registration of software copyrights.

To address the problem of copyright infringement related to content posted or transmitted over the Internet, on April 29, 2005 the NCA and the MIIT jointly promulgated the Measures for Administrative Protection of Copyright Related to Internet, which became effective on May 30, 2005. Upon receipt of an infringement notice from a legitimate copyright holder, an ICP operator must take remedial actions immediately by removing or disabling access to the infringing content. If an ICP operator knowingly transmits infringing content or fails to take remedial actions after receipt of a notice of infringement harming public interest, the ICP operator could be subject to administrative penalties, including an order to cease infringing activities, confiscation by the authorities of all income derived from the infringement activities, or payment of fines.

On May 18, 2006, the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, which were amended in 2013. Under these regulations, an owner of the network dissemination rights with respect to written works or audio or video recordings who believes that information storage, search or link services provided by an Internet service provider infringe his or her rights may require that the Internet service provider delete, or disconnect the links to, such works or recordings.

We have adopted measures to mitigate copyright infringement risks, such as real-time monitoring and mechanisms for fast removal upon receipt of notices of infringement. As of December 31, 2020, we had registered 237 software copyrights in the PRC.

Patent

On March 12, 1984, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Patent Law, which was amended in 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2020. The 2020 amended Patent Law will take effect on June 1, 2021. On June 15, 2001, the State Council promulgated the Implementation Regulation for the Patent Law, which was amended on December 28, 2002 and January 9, 2010. According to these laws and regulations, the Patent Office of the CNIPA is responsible for administering patents. The Chinese patent system adopts a “first to file” principle, which means that where more than one person files a patent application for the same invention, a patent will be granted to the person who filed the application first. To be patentable, invention or utility models must meet three conditions: novelty, inventiveness and practical applicability. A patent is valid for twenty years from the date of the filing of the patent application, in the case of an invention, and ten years from the date of the filing of the patent application, in the case of utility models and designs. From June 1, 2021, in the case of designs, a patent will be valid for fifteen years from the date of the filing of the patent application. A third-party user must obtain consent or a proper license from the patent owner to use the patent. Otherwise, third-party use constitutes an infringement of patent rights. As of December 31, 2020, we had been granted 1,353 patents in the PRC.

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Trademark

On August 23, 1982, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Trademark Law (the “Trademark Law”), which was amended in 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019. On August 3, 2002, the State Council promulgated the Implementation Regulation for the Trademark Law, which was amended on April 29, 2014. Under the Trademark Law and the implementing regulation, the Trademark Office of the Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for the registration and administration of trademarks, and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of the Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for resolving trademark disputes. In 2019, the Trademark Office of the CNIPA has taken over the responsibility for registration and administration of trademarks and trademark dispute resolution. As with patents, China has adopted a “first-to-file” principle for trademark registration. If two or more applicants apply for registration of identical or similar trademarks for the same or similar commodities, the application that was filed first will receive preliminary approval and will be publicly announced. For applications filed on the same day, the trademark that was first used will receive preliminary approval and will be publicly announced. Registered trademarks are valid for ten years from the date the registration is approved. A registrant may apply to renew a registration within twelve months before the expiration date of the registration. If the registrant fails to apply in a timely manner, a grace period of six additional months may be granted. If the registrant fails to apply before the grace period expires, the registered trademark shall be deregistered. Renewed registrations are valid for ten years. As of December 31, 2020, we had registered 887 trademarks in the PRC.

Consumer Protection and Privacy Protection

Consumer Protection

The MIIT sets forth various requirements for consumer protection in a notice, issued on April 15, 2004, which addresses certain problems in the telecommunications sector, including ambiguity in billing practices for premium services, poor quality of connections and unsolicited SMS messages, all of which impinge upon the rights of consumers.

On May 26, 2016, the MIIT issued the Measures on the Complaint Settlement of the Telecommunication Services Users, or the “Complaint Settlement Measures”, which took effect on July 30, 2016. The Complaint Settlement Measures require telecommunication services providers to respond to their users within fifteen days upon the receipt of any complaint delivered by such users, the failure of which will give the complaining users the right to file a complaint against the service providers with the provincial branch offices of the MIIT.

We are aware of the increasingly strict legal environment covering consumer protection in the PRC, and we strive to adopt all measures necessary to ensure that our business complies with these evolving standards.

Privacy Protection

The PRC Constitution states that PRC law protects the freedom and privacy of the communications of citizens and prohibits infringement of such rights. In recent years, PRC governmental authorities have issued various regulations on the use of the Internet that are designed to protect personal information from unauthorized disclosure. For example, the ICP Measures prohibit an Internet information services provider from insulting or slandering a third party or infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of a third party. In addition, PRC regulations authorize PRC telecommunication authorities to demand rectification of unauthorized disclosure by ICPs.

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Chinese law does not prohibit ICPs from collecting and analyzing personal information from their users. The PRC government, however, has the power and authority to order ICPs to submit personal information of an Internet user if such user posts any prohibited content or engages in illegal activities on the Internet. In addition, the Several Provisions stipulate that ICPs must not, without the users’ consent, collect information on users that can be used, alone or in combination with other information, to identify the user, or User Personal Information, and may not provide any User Personal Information to third parties without prior user consent. ICPs may only collect User Personal Information necessary to provide their services and must expressly inform the users of the method, content and purpose of the collection and processing of such User Personal Information. In addition, an ICP may use User Personal Information only for the stated purposes under the ICP’s scope of services. ICPs are also required to ensure the proper security of User Personal Information, and take immediate remedial measures if User Personal Information is suspected to have been disclosed. If the consequences of any such disclosure are expected to be serious, the ICP must immediately report the incident to the telecommunications governmental authorities and cooperate with the authorities in their investigations. We require our users to accept a user agreement whereby they agree to provide certain personal information to us. If we violate these regulations, the MIIT or its local bureaus may impose penalties and we may be liable for damage caused to our users.

On December 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress enacted the Decision to Enhance the Protection of Network Information, or the Information Protection Decision, to further enhance the protection of User Personal Information in electronic form. The Information Protection Decision provides that ICPs must expressly inform their users of the purpose, manner and scope of the ICPs’ collection and use of User Personal Information, publish the ICPs’ standards for their collection and use of User Personal Information, and collect and use User Personal Information only with the consent of the users and only within the scope of such consent. The Information Protection Decision also mandates that ICPs and their employees must keep strictly confidential User Personal Information that they collect, and that ICPs must take such technical and other measures as are necessary to safeguard the information against disclosure.

On July 16, 2013, the MIIT issued the Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information, or the Order. Most of the requirements under the Order that are relevant to ICP operators are consistent with the requirements already established under the MIIT provisions discussed above, except that under the Order the requirements are often more strict and have a wider scope. If an ICP operator wishes to collect or use personal information, it may do so only if such collection is necessary for the services it provides. Further, it must disclose to its users the purpose, method and scope of any such collection or use, and must obtain consent from the users whose information is being collected or used. ICP operators are also required to establish and publish their protocols relating to personal information collection or use, keep any collected information strictly confidential, and take technological and other measures to maintain the security of such information. ICP operators are required to cease any collection or use of the user personal information, and de-register the relevant user account, when a given user stops using the relevant Internet service. ICP operators are further prohibited from divulging, distorting or destroying any such personal information, or selling or providing such information unlawfully to other parties. In addition, if an ICP operator appoints an agent to undertake any marketing or technical services that involve the collection or use of personal information, the ICP operator is still required to supervise and manage the protection of the information. The Order states, in broad terms, that violators may face warnings, fines, and disclosure to the public and, in the most severe cases, criminal liability.

On August 21, 2014, the Supreme People’s Court promulgated the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Application of Laws to Cases Involving Civil Disputes over Infringement upon Personal Rights and Interests by Using Information Networks , pursuant to which if an ICP operator discloses genetic information, medical records, health examination data, criminal record, home address, private events and or other personal information of a natural person online, causing damage to the person, the People’s Court should support a claim by the infringed party for recovery of damages from the infringing ICP operator.

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On January 5, 2015, the SAMR promulgated the Measures on Punishment for Infringement of Consumer Rights, pursuant to which business operators collecting and using personal information of consumers must comply with the principles of legitimacy, propriety and necessity, specify the purpose, method and scope of collection and use of the information, and obtain the consent of the consumers whose personal information is to be collected. Business operators may not: (i) collect or use personal information of consumers without their consent; (ii) unlawfully divulge, sell or provide personal information of consumers to others; (iii) send commercial information to consumers without their consent or request, or when a consumer has explicitly declined to receive such information.

On August 22, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China promulgated the Provisions on the Cyber Protection of Children’s Personal Information, which took effect on October 1, 2019, which require that before collecting, using, transferring, or disclosing the personal information of a child, an Internet service provider must inform the child’s parents or guardians and obtain their consent, and that Internet service providers must take protective measures, such as encryption, when storing children’s personal information.

Our current security measures and those of the third parties with whom we transact business may not be adequate for the protection of user personal information. In addition, we do not have control over the security measures of our third-party online payment vendors. Security breaches of our system and the online payment systems that we use could expose us to litigation and liability for failing to secure confidential customer information and could harm our reputation, ability to attract customers and ability to encourage customers to purchase virtual items.

Security and Censorship

The principal pieces of PRC legislation concerning information security and censorship are:

Administrative Measure for the Security Protection of International Connections to Computer Information Networks (1997, as amended in 2011);

These pieces of legislation specifically prohibit the use of Internet infrastructure where it results in a breach of public security, the provision of socially destabilizing content or the divulgence of State secrets, as follows:

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Under the aforementioned legislation, it is mandatory for Internet companies in the PRC to complete security filing procedures with the local public security bureau and for them provide regular updates to the local public security bureau regarding information security and censorship systems for their Websites. In this regard, on October 1, 2004, the Administrative Rules on the Filing of Commercial Websites, or the Commercial Websites Filing Rules, were promulgated by the Beijing Administration of Industry and Commerce (the “Beijing AIC”), to replace the Detailed Implementing Rules for the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Website Filings for the Record promulgated by the Beijing AIC on September 1, 2000. The Commercial Websites Filing Rules state that operators of commercial Websites must comply with the following requirements:

The PRC Cybersecurity Law requires providers of services over Internet networks to keep user information that they have collected in strict confidence and to establish improved systems for the protection of user information. Such service providers must provide notice of the purpose, methods and scope of their collection and use of user information, and obtain the consent of each person whose personal information will be collected. Providers of services over Internet networks may not collect any personal information that is not related to the services they provide, or disclose or tamper with personal information that they have collected, unless such information is encoded to prevent identification of individuals whose information is so disclosed or tampered with. Service providers who do not comply with the PRC Cybersecurity Law may be subject to fines, suspension of their businesses, shutdown of their websites, and revocation of their business licenses

In addition, the State Security Bureau has issued regulations authorizing the blocking of access to any site it deems to be leaking State secrets or failing to comply with legislation regarding the protection of State secrets in the distribution of information online.

Accordingly, we have established an internal security committee and adopted security maintenance measures, employed a full-time supervisor and exchanged information on a regular basis with the local public security bureau with regard to sensitive or censored information and Websites.

Internet Content and Anti-Pornography

The PRC government has promulgated measures relating to Internet content through a number of governmental authorities, including the MIIT, the MOC, the SAPPRFT and the the Ministry of Public Security. These measures specifically prohibit certain Internet activities, including the operation of online games, which results in the publication of any content which is found to, among other things, propagate obscenity, gambling or violence, instigate crimes, undermine public morality or the cultural traditions of the PRC, or compromise State security or secrets. If an ICP license holder violates these measures, the PRC government may revoke its ICP license and shut down its Websites.

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In addition, the PRC government has issued several regulations concerning the installation of filter software to filter out unhealthy and vulgar content from the Internet. In April 1, 2009, the Ministry of Education, the MIIT and certain other PRC ministries and agencies issued a notice requiring that, by the end of May 2009, all computer terminals connected with the Internet at all elementary and secondary schools be able to include and operate Green Dam-Youth Escort, which is software aimed at filtering out unhealthy and vulgar content in text and graphics from the Internet and which, according to the Website for the software, may be used to control time spent on the Internet, prohibit access to computer games, and filter out unhealthy Websites. The MIIT further expanded the scope of required use of this filter software by issuing a notice on May 19, 2009, effective as of May 19, 2009, requiring that all computers manufactured and sold in the PRC have the latest available version of Green Dam-Youth Escort preinstalled when they leave the factory and that all imported computers have the latest available version of Green Dam-Youth Escort preinstalled before being sold in the PRC. Green-Dam Youth Escort is to be preinstalled on the hard drive of the computer or in the form of a CD accompanying the computer and is also to be included in the backup partition and system restore CD. However, on June 30, 2009, the MIIT postponed the implementation of this requirement regarding pre-installation of Green Dam-Youth Escort.

On December 4, 2009, the MIIT and three other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Incentives Measures for Report of Pornographic, Obscene and Vulgar Messages on Internet and Mobile Media, or the Anti-Pornography Notice, to crack down on online pornography. Pursuant to the Anti-Pornography Notice, monetary rewards will be provided to Internet users who report Websites that feature pornography, and a committee has been established to review such reports to determine an appropriate award. During a PRC anti-pornography campaign, which continued during 2014, many Websites (including mobile Websites) that contained pornography were closed down. In addition, China Mobile announced a temporary suspension of billing for Wireless Application Protocol, or (“WAP”) services, as a means of fighting against Websites providing pornographic content.

On April 13, 2014, the National Working Group on Anti-Pornography and three other PRC governmental authorities jointly issued the Proclamation of Special Action Regarding Crackdown on Online Pornographic Content, or the Anti-Pornography Proclamation. Under the Anti-Pornography Proclamation, Internet service providers must immediately remove texts, images, video, advertisements and other information that contain pornographic content. The relevant governmental authorities may order enterprises or individuals who flagrantly produce or disseminate pornographic content to stop conducting business, and may revoke relevant administrative permits. Moreover, an enterprise or individual who provides telecom operation services, network access services, advertising services or payment services to facilitate dissemination of pornographic content may have criminal or civil penalties imposed under the PRC Criminal Law and other relevant laws and regulations.

Laws and Regulations Related to Unfair Competition

Pursuant to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which took effect in 1993 and was amended in 2017 and 2019, a business operator is prohibited from any of the following unfair activities:

In addition, the Supreme People’s Court promulgated an Interpretation on Several Issues Relating to the Application of the Law in Civil Trials for Unfair Competition Cases, which became effective as of February 1, 2007 and was amended on December 29, 2020. This interpretation provides guidance on how to conduct trials involving unfair competition, protect the legal rights and interests of business operators and maintain orderly market competition.

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Regulation of M&A and Overseas Listings

On August 8, 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the MOC, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, the SAMR, the CSRC, and the SAFE, jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rule, which became effective on September 8, 2006 and amended on June 22, 2009. The M&A Rule includes provisions that purport to require that an offshore special purpose vehicle formed for purposes of the overseas listing of equity interests in PRC companies and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to the listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange.

On September 21, 2006, the CSRC published on its official Website procedures regarding its approval of overseas listings by special purpose vehicles. The CSRC approval procedures require the filing of a number of documents with the CSRC. The application of this new PRC regulation remains unclear, with no consensus currently existing among leading PRC law firms regarding the scope of the applicability of the CSRC approval requirements.

The M&A Rules also establish procedures and requirements that could make some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a Chinese domestic enterprise.

In February 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or Circular 6, which established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. In August 2011, the MOFCOM promulgated the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System, or the MOFCOM Security Review Rules, to replace the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Matters Relating to the Implementation of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors promulgated by the MOFCOM in March 2011. The MOFCOM Security Review Rules, which came into effect on September 1, 2011, provide that the MOFCOM will look into the substance and actual impact of a transaction and prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions.

Antitrust

On August 30, 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the PRC adopted the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law (the “AML”), which became effective on August 1, 2008, and prohibits certain monopolistic acts that result in or could result in the elimination or restriction of competition. After the promulgation of the AML, the State Council as well as various PRC governmental authorities, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, promulgated a series of regulations interpreting and enforcing the AML. Under the AML, monopolistic agreements, abuse of a dominant market position, and business combinations resulting in excessive concentration are considered to be monopolistic acts that result in or could result in the elimination or restriction of competition.

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Pursuant to the AML, a business operator that possesses a dominant position in a relevant market is prohibited from abusing its dominant market position through (i) selling commodities at unfairly high prices or buying commodities at unfairly low prices; (ii) without justifiable reasons, selling commodities at prices below cost; (iii) without justifiable reasons, refusing to enter into transactions with its trading counterparties; (iv) without justifiable reasons, allowing trading counterparties to make transactions exclusively with itself or with business operators designated by it; (v) without justifiable reasons, tying commodities or imposing unreasonable trading conditions on transactions; (vi) without justifiable reasons, applying differential prices and other transaction terms among its trading counterparties who are on an equal footing; (vii) other acts determined to be abuse of dominant market position by the relevant governmental authorities. If a business operator that possesses a dominant market position in a relevant market is deemed to be abusing its dominant position, the SAMR and other competent PRC governmental authorities, may, at their discretion, order the business operator to cease the illegal acts, confiscate any illegal gains, and impose a fine of 1% to 10% of the business operator’s revenues for the preceding financial year.

In addition, pursuant to the AML and related regulations, a proposed business combination is required to be reported to the anti-monopoly governmental authority by the parties involved prior to its implementation, if the following thresholds, among others, are met:

“Business Combinations” means any of the following: (i) merger of businesses; (ii) acquisition of control over another business by acquiring equity or assets; or (iii) acquisition of control over, or exercising decisive influence on, another business by contract or by any other means. Under the AML and other related regulations, transactions satisfying the thresholds for mandatory notification are not allowed to be implemented without the parties obtaining approval from the anti-monopoly governmental authority. In case of any non-compliance with the notification and approval requirement, the anti-monopoly governmental authority may order the parties involved to cease the transactions, dispose of shares or assets, transfer one of the combined businesses by no later than a specified time, or take any other measures necessary to restore the status quo as of before the business combination. A fine of up to RMB0.5 million (or approximately US$72,452) may also be imposed by the anti-monopoly governmental authority. Furthermore, the parties to the proposed transactions are subject to liability for any loss suffered by an individual or entity or individual as a result of the business combination.

On February 7, 2021, the SAMR issued the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector, which purport to prevent monopolistic practices in the Internet platform sector of the economy. The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector specify that any business combination involving VIEs is subject to anti-monopoly review. The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy Sector are indications of the State Council's and the SAMR's focus on strengthening anti-monopoly law enforcement and supervision of internet platform operators.

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Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution

The principal regulations governing foreign currency exchange in China are the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, or the FX Regulations, which were last amended in August 2008. Under the FX Regulations, the RMB is freely convertible for current account items, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for capital account items, such as direct investments, loans, repatriation of investments and investments in securities outside of the PRC, unless the prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made. Dividends paid by a PRC subsidiary to its overseas shareholder are deemed income of the shareholder and are taxable in the PRC. Pursuant to the Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange, effective in July, 1996, foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC may purchase or remit foreign currency, subject to a cap approved by the SAFE, for settlement of current account transactions without the approval of the SAFE. Foreign currency transactions under the capital account are still subject to limitations and require approvals from, or registration with, the SAFE and other relevant PRC governmental authorities.

In July 2014, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration Over the Overseas Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment by Domestic Residents Via Special Purpose Vehicles, or Circular 37, which replaced Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Corporate Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles, or Circular 75. Circular 37 requires PRC residents, including PRC institutions and individuals, to register with the local SAFE office in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, referred to in Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle,” for the purpose of holding domestic or offshore assets or interests. PRC residents must also file amendments to their registrations in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. Under these regulations, PRC residents’ failure to comply with such regulations may result in restrictions being imposed on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant PRC entity, including the payment of dividends and other distributions to its offshore parent, as well as restrictions on capital inflows from the offshore entity to the PRC entity, including restrictions on the ability to contribute additional capital to the PRC entity. Further, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of foreign exchange regulations.

Under Circular 37, if a non-listed special purpose vehicle uses its own equity to grant equity incentives to any directors, supervisors, senior management or any other employees directly employed by a domestic enterprise which is directly or indirectly controlled by such special purpose vehicle, or with which such an employee has established an employment relationship, related PRC residents and individuals may, prior to exercising their rights, apply to the SAFE for foreign exchange registration formalities for such special purpose vehicle. However, in practice, different local SAFE offices may have different views and procedures on the interpretation and implementation of the SAFE regulations, and since Circular 37 was the first regulation to regulate the foreign exchange registration of a non-listed special purpose vehicle’s equity incentives granted to PRC residents, there remains uncertainty with respect to its implementation.

On December 25, 2006, the PBOC issued the Administration Measures on Individual Foreign Exchange Control and related Implementation Rules were issued by the SAFE on January 5, 2007. Both became effective on February 1, 2007. Under these regulations, all foreign exchange transactions involving an employee share incentive plan, share option plan, or similar plan participated in by onshore individuals may be conducted only with approval from the SAFE or its local office.

The principal regulations governing distribution of dividends of foreign holding companies include the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, which was promulgated in April 1986 and amended in October 2000 and October 2016, and the Administrative Rules under the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law, which was promulgated in October 1990 and amended in April 2001 and February 2014. On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress enacted the Foreign Investment Law (the “Foreign Investment Law”), which took effect on January 1, 2020. The Foreign Investment Law abolished the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law effective January 1, 2020. Foreign holding companies established in accordance with the Foreign Investment Enterprise Law before the effectiveness of the Foreign Investment Law may retain their original legal status and form under PRC law for five years following the effectiveness of the Foreign Investment Law. The State Council is expected to issue implementation measures regarding the Foreign Investment Law, but as of date of this annual report no such implementation measures have been issued.

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Under these regulations, foreign investment enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with the PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, foreign investment enterprises in the PRC are required to allocate at least 10% of their accumulated profits each year, if any, to fund certain reserve funds unless these reserves have reached 50% of the registered capital of the enterprises. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. Furthermore, under the Corporate Income Tax Law, which became effective on January 1, 2008 and was amended in 2017 and in 2018, the maximum tax rate for the withholding tax imposed on dividend payments from PRC foreign invested companies to their overseas investors that are not regarded as "resident" for tax purposes is 20%. The rate was reduced to 10% under the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Corporate Income Tax Law issued by the State Council, which were last amended on April 23, 2019. However, a lower withholding tax rate of 5% might be applied if there is a tax treaty between China and the jurisdiction of the foreign holding companies, such as is the case with Hong Kong, and certain requirements specified by PRC tax authorities are satisfied.

Employee Share Option Plans

Pursuant to the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company , or Circular 7, which was issued by the SAFE on February 15, 2012, employees, directors, supervisors, and other senior management participating in any share incentive plan of an overseas publicly-listed company who are PRC citizens or who are non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which may be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures.

In addition, the SAT has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, employees working in the PRC who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. The PRC subsidiaries of an overseas listed company are obligated to file documents related to employee share options and restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of employees who exercise their share option or purchase restricted shares. If the employees fail to pay or the PRC subsidiaries fail to withhold income tax in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, the PRC subsidiaries may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities.

Employment and Social Insurance

On June 29, 2007, the National People’s Congress promulgated the Employment Contract Law of PRC, or the Employment Contract Law, which became effective as of January 1, 2008 and amended on December 28, 2012. The Employment Contract Law requires employers to enter into written contracts with their employees, restricts the use of temporary workers and aims to give employees long-term job security.

Pursuant to the Employment Contract Law, written employment contracts that were entered into prior to the implementation of the Employment Contract Law and are in effect as of the date of its implementation will remain in effect. Where an employment relationship was established prior to the implementation of the Employment Contract Law but no written employment contract was entered into, a written contract must be entered into within one month after the implementation of the Employment Contract Law.

On September 18, 2008, the State Council promulgated the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Employment Contract Law which came into effect immediately. These regulations interpret and supplement the provisions of the Employment Contract Law.

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In accordance with the Employment Contract Law, an employer shall control the number of dispatched workers so that they do not exceed a certain percentage of its total number of workers. An employer that is in violation thereof shall be ordered to make correction by the labor administrative department. Where no correction is made by the prescribed deadline, the employer shall be fined of not less than RMB5,000 but not more than RMB10,000 per dispatched worker involved. On January 24, 2014, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatching, which became effective on March 1, 2014. The Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatching provides that the number of dispatched workers used by an Employer shall not exceed 10% of the total number of its employees.

PRC governmental authorities have passed a variety of laws and regulations regarding social insurance and housing funds from time to time, including, among others, the PRC Social Insurance Law , the Regulation of Insurance for Labor Injury , the Regulations of Insurance for Unemployment, and the Provisional Insurance Measures for Maternal Employees. Pursuant to these laws and regulations, PRC companies must make contributions at specified levels for their employees to the relevant local social insurance and housing fund authorities. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations may result in various fines and legal sanctions and supplemental contributions to the local social insurance and housing fund governmental authorities.

Organizational Structure

As of February 26, 2021, Sohu, our ultimate parent company and controlling shareholder; Tencent; and our directors and executive officers together have shareholdings in us giving them approximately 98.0% of the total voting power of the combined total of our outstanding Class A and Class B ordinary shares, due to the additional voting power of the Class B Ordinary Shares held by Sohu and Tencent. Sohu, through its ownership of Class B Ordinary Shares and a voting agreement with Tencent Holdings Limited, has the right to appoint a majority of our Board of Directors. Sohu and Tencent together, through their ownership of our Class B Ordinary Shares, have the power to decide all matters that are put to a vote of our shareholders.

As of the date of the filing of this annual report, the following are our significant wholly-owned subsidiaries:

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In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements restricting foreign ownership of Internet information and content, Internet access, value-added telecommunications, and certain other businesses in China, we conduct a portion of our online search and search-related businesses and other business in the PRC through our VIE Sogou Information, which is incorporated in the PRC. In order to comply with PRC laws, Sogou Technology, Sogou Information, and the three shareholders of Sogou Information, which are a VIE of Sohu that is a PRC company, a Tencent group entity that is a PRC company, and our Chief Executive Officer Xiaochuan Wang, who is a PRC citizen, are parties to a series of contractual arrangements that provide Sogou Technology with effective control of Sogou Information. Pursuant to these contractual arrangements, we operate a portion our business through Sogou Information and its subsidiaries as our VIEs in the PRC and a portion of our revenues are earned by and paid to Sogou Information. Under these contractual arrangements, Sogou Information holds a portion of our assets, including licenses and permits required to operate our search and search-related businesses and other business, and Sogou Technology provides product development, technical support and marketing services to Sogou Information and holds most of the intellectual property relating to the technology we use to operate our business. As a result of these contractual arrangements, our VIEs’ results of operations, assets, and liabilities are included in our consolidated financial statements.

The following is a summary of our significant VIEs:

Beijing Sogou Information Service Co., Ltd., or Sogou Information, was incorporated in December 2005. As of December 31, 2020, Beijing Century High-Tech Investment Co., Ltd., a Sohu Group Company, and Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd., a Tencent group entity, and Xiaochuan Wang, held 45%, 45%, and 10% equity interests, respectively, in this entity.

Beijing Shi Ji Si Su Technology Co., Ltd., or Shi Ji Si Su, was acquired in April 2015 for nominal consideration. As of December 31, 2020, Sogou Information held 100% of the equity interest in this entity.

Chengdu Easypay Technology Co., Ltd., or Chengdu Easypay, was incorporated in January 2015. As of December 31, 2020, Sogou Information held 100% of the equity interest in this entity.

We established a trust on December 2, 2019 in connection with our online lending and microcredit services (the “Consolidated Trust”), which is administered by a trust company. As the Consolidated Trust only invests in loans facilitated by us, we have the power to direct the activities of the Consolidated Trust, and we have the obligation to absorb losses and the right to receive benefits from the Consolidated Trust that could potentially be significant to the Consolidated Trust. As a result, we are considered the primary beneficiary of the Consolidated Trust and the Consolidated Trust should be consolidated in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP.

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The following is a summary of the VIE agreements currently in effect:

Commerce & Finance Law Offices, our PRC counsel, has advised us that these agreements became effective upon signing, except for the pledge under the share pledge agreement, which became effective when the pledge was registered with applicable PRC governmental authorities. In the opinion of our PRC counsel, Commerce & Finance Law Offices, the ownership structure and the contractual arrangements between Sogou Technology and Sogou Information and among Sogou Technology, Sogou Information, and the shareholders of Sogou Information comply with current PRC laws and regulations and each of the these agreements is, and taken as a whole these agreements are, valid and legally binding upon each party to such agreements under the laws of the PRC, and enforceable in accordance with its and their terms. We do not believe that any of these agreements would be deemed under PRC laws and regulations to create foreign ownership of the businesses operated through our VIEs (excluding the Consolidated Trust) that would violate PRC laws and regulations. However, our PRC counsel has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Accordingly, PRC governmental authorities may ultimately take a view that is inconsistent with the opinion of our PRC counsel and our belief in that regard. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

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The following diagram summarizes our corporate structure and identifies our principal subsidiaries and VIEs as of the date of this annual report:

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We are at the forefront of AI development with a clear roadmap. Focusing on natural interaction and knowledge computing, we have become a leader in language-centered AI capabilities, including speech, computer vision, machine translation, dialogue, and Q&A. In addition to empowering our core Search, Mobile Keyboard, and Smart Hardware businesses, we also integrated the technologies into industry-leading solutions, including AI-powered Vocational Avatars and Simultaneous Interpretation, and expanded their use into multiple sectors. Our proven AI capabilities will facilitate our launch of more disruptive products and services, such as VPAs, to serve users anytime, anywhere.

Our revenues were US$1.124 billion, US$1.172 billion and US$924.7 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020. We generate revenues primarily from search and search-related advertising services, which represented 90.6% of our total revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020.

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Impact of pending going-private transaction with Tencent

On September 29, 2020, we and Tencent entered into the Sogou Merger Agreement in connection with the Sogou Merger, and Sohu and Tencent entered into the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement in connection with the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase. The consummation of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sogou Merger are subject to the possibility that they will not occur as planned if events arise that result in the termination of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase Agreement and the Sogou Merger Agreement, or if one or more of the various closing conditions to the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase and the Sohu Merger, including anti-trust clearance of the Tencent/Sohu Sogou Share Purchase under PRC law, are not satisfied or waived. In addition, the Sogou Merger Agreement imposes restrictions on the conduct of our business prior to the completion of the Sogou Merger. As a result, the pending transactions have had an adverse effect on our relationships with our customers, suppliers, and other third-party service providers and business partners, which may continue until the consummation of the Sogou Merger, if it is completed as planned. For example, our search and search-related revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2020 decreased by 33.2% year-over-year, primarily as a result of uncertainties on the part of certain advertisers with respect to our business strategies and policies following our announcement of the proposed going-private transaction.

Ability to expand advertiser base

In order to expand our advertiser base and increase the average revenue per advertiser, or ARPA, we focus on enhancing the effectiveness of our advertising services. We source our advertisers primarily through our network of advertising agencies. From time to time, we may provide discounts and rebates to attract and incentivize advertising agencies. In the last three years, the rates of discounts and rebates have remained relatively stable, but may be subject to change as we respond to market conditions.

Ability to strengthen our technological capabilities, especially AI and big data

The online search business has undergone constant technological evolution in recent years. In particular, AI and big data have been transforming, and will continue to transform, the search industry. We are dedicated to continually enhancing and applying our technological capabilities to new forms of search and other applications. To maintain our leadership in technology, we have increased our investments in research and development and expect to continue to do so.

Ability to broaden user acquisition channels

Through 2020 we actively expanded our user acquisition channels for mobile products and, in particular, increasingly tapped into the potential of our organic assets, including search app, mobile browser, and mobile keyboard. We continued our partnerships with mobile device manufacturers to ensure the prevalence of our search engine in mobile browsers pre-installed by mobile device manufacturers, which serve as major traffic acquisition channels for search engine service providers. Our decision to voluntarily adjust our traffic acquisition strategy, leveraging organic traffic and reducing our reliance on external channels, allowed us to manage traffic acquisition costs well. We intend to continue to attempt to mitigate the risk from competition for mobile traffic acquisition by increasingly focusing on organic channels to generate traffic growth.

Key Components of Results of Operations

Our Revenues

We generate revenues primarily from our search and search-related advertising services, which enable advertisers’ promotional links to be displayed on our search result pages and other Internet properties and third parties’ Internet properties where the links are relevant to the search queries and such properties. Our advertising services expand distribution of advertisers’ promotional links and advertisements by leveraging traffic on third parties’ Internet properties, including Web content, software, and mobile applications.

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Search and search-related advertising services consist primarily of auction-based pay-for-click services, for which we charge advertisers on a per click basis when users click on the advertisers’ promotional links displayed on our search result pages and other Internet properties and third parties’ Internet properties. Revenues generated from our auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 83.8%, 88.1% and 86.8%, respectively, of the total revenues derived from our search and search-related advertising services in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

We also generate revenues from other business by offering IVAS, primarily with respect to our operation of Web games and mobile games developed by third parties, as well as by offering other products and services, including smart hardware products and online lending and microcredit services.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of revenues consists primarily of traffic acquisition costs; bandwidth costs; server and Internet equipment depreciation associated with the operation of our Internet properties; salary and benefits expenses, and share-based compensation, for our staff employed in network operations; and costs related to our other business. Traffic acquisition costs represent the most significant portion of our cost of revenues.

Our traffic acquisition costs consist primarily of payments to third parties that direct search queries of their users to our Internet properties or distribute our advertisers’ promotional links through such third parties’ Internet properties. The traffic acquisitions costs for such arrangements consist primarily of fees that we pay to the third parties based on an agreed-upon unit price and revenue-sharing payments that we make to the third parties based on an agreed-upon percentage of revenues generated from users’ clicks.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses consist of research and development expenses, sales and marketing expenses, and general and administrative expenses. Share-based compensation expense is included in each of these categories of expense.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of salary and benefits expenses and share-based compensation for our research and development personnel; costs associated with the use of facilities for research and development purposes; and fees for outsourced technical services associated with our product development.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of advertising and promotional expenses; salary and benefits expenses and share-based compensation for personnel engaged in sales and marketing. Advertising and promotional expenses generally represent the expenses incurred for promoting our products and services and our brand.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of professional service fees, salary and benefits expenses and share-based compensation for employees involved in general corporate operations, and allowances for credit losses.

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Taxation

PRC

PRC Corporate Income Tax

The PRC Corporate Income Tax Law including its implementing regulations, or the CIT Law, generally applies an income tax rate of 25% to all enterprises incorporated in the PRC, including foreign-invested enterprises, such as our PRC subsidiaries, and domestic companies,such as our VIEs, but grants preferential tax treatment to “High and New Technology Enterprises,” or HNTEs, qualified Software Enterprises, and “Key National Software Enterprises,” or KNSEs.

HNTEs are instead subject to an income tax rate of 15%, subject to a requirement that they re-apply for HNTE status every three years. During this three-year period, an HNTE must conduct a qualification self-review each year to ensure it meets the HNTE criteria, and will be subject to the regular 25% income tax rate for any year in which it does not meet the criteria. Sogou Technology, Sogou Information, and Sogou Network qualified as HNTEs for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and will need to re-apply for HNTE qualification in 2023 (Sogou Technology), 2021 (Sogou Information), and 2022 (Sogou Network).

A Software Enterprise is entitled to an income tax exemption for two years beginning with its first profitable year and a 50% reduction to a rate of 12.5% for the subsequent three years. An entity that qualified as a KNSE is entitled to a further reduced preferential income tax rate of 10%. Enterprises wishing to enjoy the status of a Software Enterprise or a KNSE must perform a self-assessment each year to ensure they meet the criteria for qualification and file required supporting documents with the tax authorities before using the preferential CIT rates. These enterprises are subject to the tax authorities’ assessment each year as to whether they are entitled to use the relevant preferential CIT treatments. If at any time during the preferential tax treatment years an enterprise uses the preferential CIT rates but the relevant authorities determine that it fails to meet applicable criteria for qualification, the relevant authorities may revoke the enterprise’s Software Enterprise/KNSE status. Sogou Technology qualified in 2018 for the preferential income tax rate of 10% for 2017.

If our holding company in the Cayman Islands or any of our subsidiaries outside the PRC is considered as a PRC resident enterprise for tax purposes, then our global income will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25%. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to China’s Regulatory Environment—We may be deemed a PRC resident enterprise under the CIT Law and be subject to PRC taxation on our worldwide income.”

PRC Withholding Tax on Dividends

Under the CIT Law and its implementation rules, the profits of a foreign-invested enterprise arising in 2008 and thereafter that are distributed to its immediate holding company outside the PRC are subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%. A lower withholding tax rate will be applied if there is a beneficial tax treaty between the PRC and the jurisdiction of the foreign holding company. A holding company in Hong Kong, for example, will be eligible, with approval of the PRC local tax authority, to be subject to a 5% withholding tax rate under the China-HK Tax Arrangement if such holding company is considered to be a non-PRC resident enterprise and holds at least 25% of the equity interests in the PRC foreign-invested enterprise distributing the dividends. However, if such Hong Kong holding company is not considered to be the beneficial owner of such dividends under applicable PRC tax regulations, such dividend will remain subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%.

PRC Value-Added Tax

Since April 1, 2019, we have been subject to VAT at a rate of 6% or 13%; for the period from May 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, we were subject to VAT at a rate of 6% or 16%; and before May 1, 2018, we were subject to VAT at a rate of 6% or 17%, in each case depending on the type of service or product offered.

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Cayman Islands

We are not subject to income or capital gains tax under the current laws of the Cayman Islands. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the government of the Cayman Islands.

British Virgin Islands

Under the current laws of British Virgin Islands, Sogou BVI is not subject to tax on income or capital gains. There are no other taxes likely to be material to us levied by the government of the British Virgin Islands.

Hong Kong

Under the current Hong Kong Inland Revenue Ordinance, our Hong Kong subsidiaries Sogou Hong Kong Limited, Vast Creation Advertising Media Services Limited, and Sogou Technology Hong Kong Limited are subject to income tax at a rate of 16.5%. Hong Kong dose not impose a withholding tax on dividends.

Results of Operations

You should read the information set forth and discussed in this section in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report. The year-to-year comparisons discussed below may not be indicative of our future trends.

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The following table summarizes our historical results of operations for the periods indicated:

(1) Share-based compensation expense included in:

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Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2019

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Revenues

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Our revenues were US$1.172 billion and US$924.7 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 21.1%.

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The following table sets forth the relative percentage of our revenues in 2019 and 2020 generated from search and search-related advertising services and from other business.

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Revenues generated from our search and search-related advertising services were US$1.073 billion and US$837.4 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 22.0%. The decrease in our search and search-related advertising revenues resulted primarily from a decrease in revenues generated from our auction-based pay-for-click services, which accounted for 88.1% and 86.8%, respectively, of our search and search-related advertising revenues in 2019 and 2020. The decline in revenues from auction-based pay-for-click services resulted primarily from a decrease in ARPA, offset by an increase in the number of our advertisers. The ARPA for auction-based pay-for-click services was US$5,403 and US$3,971, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 26.5%. The decrease was due to prolonged impact from the pandemic that dampened the overall advertising sentiment and the business operations of SMEs, and uncertainties among certain advertisers with respect to our business policies as a result of the previously-announced proposal by Tencent to take Sogou private, as well as controlled traffic acquisition activity. The number of our auction-based pay-for-click advertisers was approximately 175,000 and 183,000, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.6%. Revenues generated from our mobile auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 92.4% and 93.0%, respectively, of our total auction-based pay-for-click revenues for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020.

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Other revenues were US$99.1 million and US$87.2 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 12.0%. The decrease in other revenues was primarily attributable to a decrease in IVAS revenues.

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Cost of Revenues

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Our overall cost of revenues was US$734.1 million in 2020, nearly flat compared with cost of revenues of US$738.5 million in 2019. We incurred traffic acquisition costs of approximately US$562.2 million and US$578.5 million, respectively, in 2019 and 2020, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.9%.

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Gross Profit

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Gross profit decreased from US$433.8 million in 2019 to US$190.6 million in 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 56.1%. Gross margins were 37.0% and 20.6%, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020.

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Research and Development Expenses

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Our research and development expenses increased from US$190.4 million in 2019 to US$197.2 million in 2020, representing a year-over-year increase of 3.6%. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in salary and benefits expenses for our research and development staff.

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Sales and Marketing Expenses

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Our sales and marketing expenses decreased from US$138.3 million in 2019 to US$103.2 million in 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 25.4%. The decrease was mainly attributable to decreased marketing and promotional spending.

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General and Administrative Expenses

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Our general and administrative expenses decreased from US$40.7 million in 2019 to US$30.4 million in 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of 25.2%. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in allowances for credit losses.

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Other Income, Net

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Other income, net, increased from US$21.1 million in 2019 to US$38.6 million in 2020. The increase was primarily due to an impairment loss recognized in 2019 for long-term investments.

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Income Tax Expenses

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Our income tax expenses decreased from US$2.7 million in 2019 to US$2.3 million in 2020.

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Net Income/(loss)

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As a result of the foregoing, we had net income of US$89.1 million and a net loss of US$108.8 million, respectively, for 2019 and 2020.

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Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest shareholders

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Our net loss attributable to non-controlling interest shareholders was nil and $0.6 million, respectively, for 2019 and 2020.

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Net income/(loss) attributable to Sogou Inc.

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We had net income attributable to Sogou Inc. of US$89.1 million and a net loss attributable to Sogou Inc. of $108.2 million, respectively, for 2019 and 2020.

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Year Ended December 31, 2019 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2018

Revenues

Our revenues were US$1.124 billion and US$1.172 billion, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.3%.

The following table sets forth the relative percentage of our revenues in 2018 and 2019 generated from search and search-related advertising services and from other business.

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Revenues generated from our search and search-related advertising services were US$1.023 billion and US$1.073 billion, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 4.9%. The increase in our search and search-related advertising revenues resulted primarily from an increase in revenues generated from our auction-based pay-for-click services, which accounted for 83.8% and 88.1%, respectively, of our search and search-related advertising revenues in 2018 and 2019. The growth in revenues from auction-based pay-for-click services resulted primarily from an increase in the number of our advertisers, offset by a decrease in ARPA. The number of our auction-based pay-for-click advertisers was approximately 139,000 and 175,000, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 25.9%. The ARPA for auction-based pay-for-click services was US$6,168 and US$5,403, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year decrease of 12.4%. Revenues generated from our mobile auction-based pay-for-click services accounted for 88.2% and 92.4%, respectively, of our total auction-based pay-for-click revenues for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019.

Other revenues were US$101.0 million and US$99.1 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year decrease of 1.9%. The decrease in other revenues was primarily attributable to a decrease in IVAS revenues.

Cost of Revenues

Our overall cost of revenues increased from US$693.5 million in 2018 to US$738.5 million in 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 6.5%. The increase in cost of revenues was primarily attributable to an increase in traffic acquisition costs. We incurred traffic acquisition costs of approximately US$532.7 million and US$562.2 million, respectively, in 2018 and 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 5.5%.

Gross Profit

Gross profit increased from US$430.7 million in 2018 to US$433.8 million in 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 0.7%. Gross margins were 38.3% and 37.0%, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019.

Research and Development Expenses

Our research and development expenses decreased from US$201.7 million in 2018 to US$190.4 million in 2019, representing a year-over-year decrease of 5.6%. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in outsourced product development fees.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Our sales and marketing expenses decreased from US$146.2 million in 2018 to US$138.3 million in 2019, representing a year-over-year decrease of 5.4%. The decrease was mainly attributable to decreased marketing and promotional spending.

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General and Administrative Expenses

Our general and administrative expenses increased from US$38.1 million in 2018 to US$40.7 million in 2019, representing a year-over-year increase of 6.8%. The increase was primarily due to an increase in allowances for credit losses and an increase in professional fees.

Other Income, Net

Other income, net decreased from US$41.5 million in 2018 to US$21.1 million in 2019. The decrease was primarily due to gains recognized in 2018 from long-term equity investments under a new accounting standard (ASC 321), as well as impairment loss recognized in 2019 for long-term investments.

Income Tax Expenses

Our income tax expenses increased from US$1.2 million in 2018 to US$2.7 million in 2019. The increase was mainly due to an increase in taxable income as a result of higher profit earned by our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs.

Net Income

As a result of the foregoing, we had net income of US$98.8 million and US$89.1 million, respectively, for 2018 and 2019.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, included elsewhere in this annual report. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an on-going basis, we evaluate our estimates based on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. When reviewing our financial statements, you should consider (i) our selection of critical accounting policies, (ii) the judgment and other uncertainties affecting the application of such policies and (iii) the sensitivity of reported results to changes in conditions and assumptions. We have summarized below the critical accounting policies that we believe reflect the most significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Consolidation of VIEs

Our VIE Sogou Information is owned by our Chief Executive Officer, a VIE of Sohu, and a Tencent group entity, which act as our nominee shareholders, and our other VIEs are subsidiaries of Sogou Information. For our consolidated VIEs, our management made evaluation of the relationships between us and our VIEs and the economic benefit flow of contractual arrangements with Sogou Information. In connection with such evaluation, management also took into account the fact that, as a result of such contractual arrangements, we control the shareholders’ voting interests in these VIEs. As a result of such evaluation, management concluded that we are the primary beneficiary of our consolidated VIEs. We do not have any VIEs that are not consolidated in our financial statements.

Recognition of Revenues

On January 1, 2018, we adopted ASC 606, using the modified retrospective method applied to contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018. Results for reporting periods beginning after January 1, 2018 are presented under ASC 606, while prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with our historic accounting under ASC 605. The adoption did not have a material impact on our retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 and our financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018.

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The adoption of ASC 606 mainly resulted in a change to our accounting policy for advertising-for-advertising barter transactions. Under ASC 605, revenues or expenses from barter transactions were recognized at fair value during the period in which the advertisements were provided only if the fair value of the advertising services surrendered in the transaction was determinable based on the entity’s own historical practice of receiving cash and cash equivalents, marketable securities, or other consideration that was readily convertible to a known amount of cash for similar advertising from buyers unrelated to the counterparty in the barter transaction. If the fair value of the advertising surrendered in the barter transaction was not determinable, the barter transaction would be recorded based on the carrying amount of the advertising surrendered, which would likely be zero. ASC 606 has suspended the above guidance of ASC 605 and provides that when the contract consideration from a customer is in forms other than cash, the revenue will be measured at the fair value of the non-cash consideration, or indirectly measured by reference to the standalone selling price of the goods or services promised to the customer if the fair value of the non-cash consideration cannot be reasonably estimated.

For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, because of the adoption of ASC 606, we estimated the fair value of advertising services received in barter transactions and recognized US$21.8 million, US$15.7 million and US$14.3 million, respectively, in revenues, with a corresponding increase in cost of revenues and sales and marketing expenses. The adoption of ASC 606 did not have a material impact on our consolidated balance sheets, consolidated statements of cash flows, or consolidated statements of changes in equity as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Under Topic 606, we recognize revenue when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.

We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:

Step 1: identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer;

Step 2: identification of the performance obligations in the contract;

Step 3: determination of the transaction price;

Step 4: allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and

Step 5: recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation.

Our revenues are derived primarily from search and search-related advertising services. We also derive revenues from IVAS, which consists primarily of our operation of Web games and mobile games developed by third parties, and from other products and services, including smart hardware products and online lending and microcredit services. The following table presents revenues disaggregated by revenue source, net of VAT.

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Search and Search-related Advertising Revenues

We procure a majority of our search and search-related advertisers through advertising agencies. Discounts, rebates, and other cash payments provided to the advertising agencies and advertisers not in exchange for distinct goods or services are accounted for as a reduction of revenues.

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Pay-for-click Services

Pay-for-click services enable advertisers’ promotional links to be displayed on our search result pages and other Internet properties and third parties’ Internet properties where the links are relevant to the subject and content of searches and such properties. For pay-for-click services, we introduce Internet users to our advertisers through our auction-based pay-for-click systems and charge advertisers on a per click basis when the users click on the displayed links. The performance obligation of pay-for-click services is satisfied at the point in time when the users click on the displayed links, and revenue for pay-for-click services is recognized on a per click basis.

Other Online Advertising Services

Other online advertising services mainly consist of displaying advertisers’ promotional links on our Internet properties. For time-based advertising services, the performance obligation is satisfied over time when the advertising links are displayed over the contract periods, and revenue is normally recognized on a straight-line basis over the contracted displaying period. For performance-based advertising services, for example, the advertisers are charged based on the times that users download from the displayed links, and the performance obligation is satisfied at the point in time when the promised performance is completed, and the revenue is recognized at the completion of the promised performance.

Our online advertising services expand distribution of advertisers’ promotional links and advertisements by leveraging traffic on third parties’ Internet properties, including Web content, software, and mobile applications. We are the principal in such arrangements because our promise to advertisers is to provide the advertising services ourselves rather than arrange for the advertising services to be provided by third parties on their Internet properties. Payments made to operators of third-party Internet properties are included in traffic acquisition costs.

Other Revenues

Other revenues consist of IVAS revenues, which are mainly from our operation of Web games and mobile games developed by third parties, as well as revenues from other products and services, including smart hardware products and online lending and microcredit services.Other revenues are generally recognized when our performance obligations under the applicable agreements have been satisfied, except for interest revenues from our online lending and microcredit services, which are recognized using the effective interest method.

Contract Balances

The timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoicing to customers. Accounts receivable represent amounts invoiced and revenue recognized prior to invoicing, when we have satisfied our performance obligations and have the unconditional right to payment.

Receipts in advance relate to unsatisfied performance obligations at the end of the year and consist of cash payments received in advance from customers. The unused cash balances remaining in customers’ accounts are recorded as our liability. Due to the generally short-term duration of our contracts, the majority of the performance obligations are satisfied in one year. The amount of revenue recognized that was included in receipts in advance balance at the beginning of the year was US$62.2 million and US$65.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Revenues recognized in the current year from performance obligations related to prior years were not material.

Practical Expedients

We have used the following practical expedients as allowed under ASC 606:

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Income Taxes and Uncertain Tax Positions

Income Taxes

Income taxes are accounted for using an asset and liability approach that requires the recognition of income taxes payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns. Deferred income taxes are determined based on the differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities and are measured using tax rates and tax laws in effect as of the measurement date. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance if, based on available evidence, it is considered more likely than not that some portion of or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. In making such determination, we consider factors that include (i) future reversals of existing taxable temporary differences, (ii) future profitability, and (iii) tax planning strategies.

Uncertain Tax Positions

In order to assess uncertain tax positions, we apply a more likely than not threshold and a two-step approach for financial statement recognition and measurement of the tax position. For the two-step approach, the first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained, including resolution of any related litigation processes and appeals. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more likely than not to be realized upon settlement. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes.

Long-term Investments

Investments in entities are recorded as equity investments under long-term investments. For entities over which we can exercise significant influence but do not own a majority equity interest or have control, the equity method is applied. For entities over which we do not have significant influence, with the adoption of ASC 321 effective as of January 1, 2018, these investments should generally be measured at fair value, with gains or losses resulting from changes in fair value recognized in earnings. Based on ASC 321, an entity may elect to record equity investments without readily determinable fair values and not accounted for by the equity method at cost, less impairment, adjusted for subsequent observable price changes. Entities that elect this measurement alternative will report changes in the carrying values due to re-measurement based on observable price changes of the equity investments in current earnings. As of December 31, 2020, all of our equity investments were accounted as equity investments without readily determinable fair values.

Impairment of Long-lived Assets

The carrying values of long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. Based on the existence of one or more indicators of impairment, we measure any impairment of long-lived assets using the projected discounted cash flow method at the asset group level. The estimation of future cash flows requires significant management judgment based on our historical results and anticipated results and is subject to many factors. The discount rate that is commensurate with the risk inherent in our business model is determined by us. An impairment charge would be recorded if we were to determine that the carrying value of long-lived assets may not be recoverable. The impairment to be recognized would be measured by the amount by which the carrying values of the assets exceeded the fair value of the assets.

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Fair Value of Financial Instruments

U.S. GAAP defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities required or permitted to be recorded at fair value, we consider the principal or most advantageous market in which a transaction would be expected to occur and considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability.

U.S. GAAP establishes a three-tier hierarchy to prioritize the inputs used in the valuation methodologies in measuring the fair value of financial instruments. This hierarchy also requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. The three-tier fair value hierarchy is:

Level 1—observable inputs that reflect quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets.

Level 2—other inputs that are directly or indirectly observable in the marketplace.

Level 3—unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market activity.

Our financial instruments primarily include cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments, accounts receivable, loans and interest receivable, accounts payables, accrued and other short -term liabilities, and amounts due from/to related parties. The carrying values of these balances approximates their fair values due to the current and short-term nature of the balances.

Share-Based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense arises from share-based awards, including share options for the purchase of our ordinary shares, granted by us to our management and other key employees.

In determining the fair value of share options granted, a binomial option-pricing model (the “BP Model”) is applied. The determination of the fair value is affected by the fair value of the ordinary shares underlying the options as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables, including risk-free interest rates, exercise multiples, expected forfeiture rates, the expected share price volatility rates, and expected dividends. The fair values of the ordinary shares are determined based on the trading price of our ADSs in the public market.

Share-based compensation expense for share options granted to our employees was measured based on their grant-date fair values. In circumstances where the service inception date precedes the grant date, share-based compensation expense is measured beginning on the service inception date and is re-measured on each subsequent reporting date before the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the related options. For options with only a service requirement, share-based compensation expense was recognized on an accelerated basis over the requisite service period. For options with both a service requirement and a performance target, share-based compensation expense was recognized over the estimated period during which the service period requirement and performance target will be met. For options where vesting was subject to an initial public offering, share-based compensation expense was recognized on an accelerated basis over the requisite service period after the completion of our initial public offering on November 13, 2017. The number of share-based awards for which the service was not expected to be rendered over the requisite period was estimated, and the related compensation expense was not recorded for the number of awards so estimated.

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Before our adoption of ASU 2018-07 “Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting” effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, share-based compensation expense for share options granted to non-employees was measured at fair value at the earlier of the performance commitment date or the date service was completed and recognized over the period during which the service was provided. We applied the guidance in ASC 505-50 to measure share options granted to non-employees based on the then-current fair value at each reporting date until the service had been provided and the performance targets have been met. After our adoption of ASU 2018-07, share-based compensation expense for share options granted to non-employees is recognized in accordance with the requirements of ASC 718 for employee share-based payment awards.

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For the year ended December 31, 2018, US$145.0 million net cash provided by operating activities consisted primarily of our net income of US$98.8 million, adjusted by the add back of non-cash items consisting of US$61.9 million in depreciation and amortization expense, US$14.2 million of share-based compensation expense; offset by non-cash items of US$18.0 million in gains from re-measurement of long-term equity investments, a US$16.8 million increase in working capital as a result of growth in our revenues.

Investing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2020, US$235.4 million net cash provided by investing activities consisted primarily of US$2.228 billion in proceeds from short-term investments, which consist of time deposits and financial instruments issued by banks, and US$113.5 million from collection of financing receivables; offset by US$1.991 billion for purchase of short-term investments, US$93.6 million for investments in financing receivables, US$15.9 million for fixed asset purchases, and US$10.0 million for purchase of long-term investments.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, US$217.6 million net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of US$2.025 billion for purchase of short-term investments, which consist of time deposits and financial instruments issued by banks, US$257.4 million for investments in financing receivables, US$30.1 million for fixed asset purchases, and US$11.5 million for purchase of long-term investments; offset by US$1.879 billion in proceeds from short-term investments and US$226.1 million from collection of financing receivables.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, US$650.8 million net cash used in investing activities consisted primarily of US$1.678 billion for purchase of short-term investments, which consist of time deposits and financial instruments issued by banks, US$98.8 million for investments in financing receivables, US$75.8 million for fixed asset purchases, and US$19.9 million for purchase of long-term investments; offset by US$1.162 billion in proceeds from short-term investments and US$60.0 million from collection of financing receivables.

Financing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2020, US$8.2 million net cash used in financing activities consisting primarily of US$8.3 million used for the repurchase of Class A Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, US$33.4 million net cash used in financing activities consisting primarily of US$42.0 million used for the repurchase of Class A Ordinary Shares represented by ADSs, offset by US$8.6 million proceeds received by the consolidated Trust from third-party funder.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, cash movement resulting from financing activities was insignificant.

Holding Company Structure and Limitations on Cash Transfers to Sogou Inc.

Sogou Inc. is a holding company with no operating assets other than investments in our Chinese operating entities through our intermediate holding companies, and our VIEs. Since substantially all of our operations are conducted through our indirect China-based subsidiaries Sogou Technology and Sogou Network and our VIEs, we may need to rely on dividends, loans, or advances made by our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs for any cash requirements Sogou Inc. or our other offshore entities may have from time to time in excess of any cash retained by us or our other offshore entities or to pay any dividends to holders of our ordinary shares, including holders of our ADS.

The ability of Sogou Inc. and our other offshore entities to receive dividends and distributions from our China-based subsidiaries and VIEs, and the amount of cash available for distribution to, and use by, Sogou Inc., are subject to certain restrictions and limitations related to PRC law and our subsidiary and VIE structure. See “Liquidity and Capital Resources—PRC Restrictions Related to Our VIE Structure.” We do not expect any of such restrictions or taxes to have a material impact on our ability to meet our cash obligations.

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PRC Regulations Related to Profit Appropriation, Withholding Tax on Dividends, and Foreign Currency Exchange

Regulations in the PRC currently permit payment of dividends of a PRC company only out of accumulated profits as determined in accordance with accounting standards and regulations in China. Our China-based subsidiaries Sogou Technology and Sogou Network and our VIEs are also required to set aside each year to their general reserves at least 10% of their after-tax profit based on PRC accounting standards, until the cumulative amount reaches 50% of their paid-in capital. These reserves may not be distributed as cash dividends, or as loans or advances. Our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs may also allocate a portion of their after-tax profits, at the discretion of their Boards of Directors, to their staff welfare and bonus funds. Any amounts so allocated would not be available for distribution to Sogou Inc. or our other offshore entities.

The CIT Law imposes a 10% withholding income tax for dividends distributed by foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC to their immediate holding companies outside China. A lower withholding tax rate will be applied if there is a tax treaty arrangement between China and the jurisdiction of the foreign holding company. A holding company in Hong Kong, for example, will be subject to a 5% withholding tax rate under the China-HK Tax Arrangement if such holding company is considered a non-PRC resident enterprise and holds at least 25% of the equity interests in the PRC foreign invested enterprise distributing the dividends, subject to approval of the PRC local tax authority. However, if the Hong Kong holding company is not considered to be the beneficial owner of such dividends under applicable PRC tax regulations, such dividend will remain subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%.

In addition, under SAFE regulations, the RMB is not convertible into foreign currencies for capital account items, such as loans, repatriation of investments, and investments outside of China, unless prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made.

PRC Restrictions Related to Our VIE Structure

Part of our operations are conducted through our VIEs, which generate a portion of our revenues and hold certain cash balances. As our VIE Sogou Information and its subsidiaries (which are also our VIEs) are not owned by Sogou Technology, Sogou Information is not able to make dividend payments to Sogou Technology. Therefore, in order for Sogou Inc. or our subsidiaries outside of China to receive any dividends originating from our VIEs, we will need to rely on payments made by Sogou Information to Sogou Technology pursuant to a services contract between them. Depending on the nature of services provided by Sogou Technology to Sogou Information, certain of these payments will subject to PRC taxes, such as VAT, that will effectively reduce the amount that Sogou Technology receives from Sogou Information. In addition, the PRC government could impose restrictions on such payments or change the tax rates applicable to such payments.

Dividend Policy

We intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation and expansion of our business, and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Class A and Class B Ordinary Shares for the foreseeable future. Future cash dividends distributed by us, if any, will be declared at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital requirements and surplus, general financial condition, contractual restrictions, and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant.

Capital Expenditures

Our capital expenditures include the purchase of fixed assets, consisting primarily of servers, Internet network equipment, and leasehold improvements. Our expenditures for purchase of fixed assets of US$75.8 million, US$30.1 million and US$15.9 million, respectively, in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were mainly to support increases in our user traffic and new products and services.

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