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The web portal and video-sharing website derived a big chunk of its 2021 revenue from online games.

Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU), one of China's largest Internet service providers, reported on February 22 its non-GAAP earnings for the fourth quarter of 2021. The company raked in USD 193 million during this period and garnered USD 836 million in revenue for the whole year.

Sohu, a major online media, video-sharing, and game platform, had non-GAAP earnings of 1 US cent per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a margin of 101.6%. 

Despite a year-on-year (YOY) decrease of 23.8% in its fourth-quarter revenue, Sohu’s 2021 revenue grew 11.4% YoY.

The company’s financial report indicates that of the USD 139 million, some USD 34 million came from advertising, down 20% YoY and flat QoQ.

Another USD 144 million was attributable to online games, down 27% YoY and 14% quarter on quarter, mainly due to the declining revenue of Little Raccoon: Heroes, a mobile game. 

For the full year’s revenue, brand advertising contributed USD 135 million, and online gaming added USD 638 million; non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to Sohu amounted to USD 79 million, up 54.9% YoY.

Amid the ongoing challenges from a shifting macroeconomic environment and uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sohu said the company has been proactive in “refining our  technology, developing product innovations, improving operating efficiency and exploring differentiated monetization opportunities.”

Dr. Charles Zhang, chairman and CEO of Sohu, ascribed the company's profits to "better user experience through improvements in products and social interaction features."

"We applied advanced live broadcasting technologies to large and unique content marketing events," said Zhang. "Based on the competitive advantages of the Sohu product matrix, these live broadcasting events helped us to generate a high volume of premium content and wide social distribution."

Sohu's domestic competitors in Internet information services include NetEase, Sina, and Tencent.