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SOHU » Topics » (a) Investments in High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease AgeThis excerpt taken from the SOHU 10-K filed Feb 28, 2008. (a) Investments in High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age As of December 31, 2007, Sohu had outstanding long-term loans of $11.4 million to Dr. Zhang, Sohus Chief Executive Officer and a major Sohu shareholder, and certain of our employees. The long-term loans are used to finance investments in High Century, which is owned 80% by Dr. Zhang and 20% by an employee; Sohu Entertainment, which is owned by two of our employees; Goodfeel, which is owned by two of our employees; Huohu, which is owned 75% by Sohu Era and 25% by an employee; Sogou Information, which is owned by two of our employees; and Gamease Age, which is owned by two of our employees. High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age are used to facilitate our participation in telecommunications, Internet content and certain other businesses in China where foreign ownership is either prohibited or restricted. The agreements contain provisions that, subject to PRC law, (i) the loans can only be repaid to us by transferring the shares of High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information or Gamease Age to us; (ii) the shares of High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information or Gamease Age cannot be transferred without our approval; and (iii) we have the right to appoint all directors and senior management personnel of High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age. Dr. Zhang and the other employee borrowers have pledged all of their shares in High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age as collateral for the loans and the loans bear no interest and are due on demand after November 2003 in the case of High Century; after November 2005 in the case of Huohu; after August 12, 2006 in the case of Sogou Information; after October 2006 in the case of Goodfeel; after November 3, 2006 in the case of Sohu Entertainment; after September 2008 in the case of Gamease Age, or, in any case, at such time as Dr. Zhang or the other employee borrowers, as the case may be, is not an employee of Sohu. Sohu does not intend to request repayment of the loans as long as PRC regulations prohibit it from directly investing in businesses being undertaken by the VIEs. Because these loans can only be repaid by the borrowers transferring the shares of the various entities, our ability to ultimately realize the effective return of the amounts advanced under these loans will depend on the profitability of High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age which is uncertain.
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Table of ContentsFurthermore, because of uncertainties associated with the PRC law, ultimate enforcement of the loan agreements is uncertain. Accordingly, we may never be able to collect these loans or exercise influence over High Century, Sohu Entertainment, Goodfeel, Huohu, Sogou Information and Gamease Age. In addition, under Section 402 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, issuers subject to the act are prohibited from making personal loans to their directors and executive officers. Under Section 402, issuers are permitted to maintain the loans they made to directors and executive officers prior to the effective date of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. They are not permitted, however, to renew or materially modify such loans. We believe that there is a strong argument that the loans to Dr. Zhang described above are not personal loans, in view of our underlying business purpose for making the loans and the lack of a personal benefit to Dr. Zhang from the loans. In the absence of judicial interpretation, an SEC rule, or an SEC staff interpretation confirming our conclusion, however, we intend to treat these loans as if they were personal loans under Section 402 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Accordingly, we expect that if we enter into arrangements similar to those described above in the future, any loans made under such arrangements will be made to individuals who are not our directors or executive officers. In addition, should the existing loans to Dr. Zhang, or to the entities in which he is the primary shareholder, need to be renewed or materially modified, such as if we need to advance additional funds to any of these entities, we expect that the entities, the ownership of the entities and/or the loans to the entities will be restructured so that we could not be deemed to be making a loan to Dr. Zhang. The prohibitions set forth in Section 402 have not had any adverse effect on our operations to date, and we do not expect them to have any adverse effect in the future. |
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