Qihoo Gains After Saying Search Engine Is Own Technology

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. (QIHU) gained the most in a week in New York after stating that the search engine it started this month uses the company’s own technology.

Beijing-based Qihoo, which develops computer security software, rose the most since Aug. 22, adding 2 percent to $21.99 at the close of trading in New York. Baidu Inc. (BIDU), owner of China’s largest online search engine, tumbled 6.2 percent to $113.10 a day after gaining the most in three weeks.

Qihoo said on its website that its search engine, begun on Aug. 16, was developed over seven years and is based on technology for which it holds intellectual property rights. Baidu has been redirecting all queries made through its search engine, including those that originated from other platforms such as Qihoo’s, to its home page, according to Henry Guo, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC.

“Qihoo is still far below Baidu but it’s showing very good momentum already,” Guo, who has a buy rating on Qihoo and Baidu, said in a phone interview from San Francisco. “So far, so good for Qihoo.”

Baidu controls about 80 percent of China’s Internet search market compared to Qihoo, which handled about 10 percent of traffic as of Aug. 26, Guo said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leon Lazaroff in New York llazaroff@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tal Barak Harif at Tbarak@bloomberg.net