As tech war heats up, China’s Twitter-like Weibo and search engine Sogou delist from US

Beijing: The parent company of China’s vast Weibo platform and one of the country’s biggest search engines have announced plans to delist from US stock markets in deals totalling over $6 billion as relations between Washington and Beijing grow increasingly tense.

Chinese search engine Sogou confirmed Tuesday it would be taken private by tech giant Tencent, in a deal that values the New York-listed firm at around $3.5 billion.

The announcement comes a day after Chinese internet giant Sina Corp—which owns the country’s massive Twitter-like Weibo—said it would go private as well.

A growing number of Chinese companies have delisted from the US or opted for secondary, domestic listings as the world’s two superpowers butt heads over a number of issues including technology, Hong Kong and the coronavirus.