ZHANG CHAOYANG

Birth place        : Xi’an, Shaanxi

Net worth         : (2009) first quarter of 2009 to be between USD111.5 million and USD115.5 million, with advertising revenues of USD40.5 million to USD42.5 million and non-advertising revenues of USD71.0 million to USD73.0 million.

Zhang Chaoyang, 45, Zhang is the founder and President of SOHU.com Inc. The company reported US$1 million in revenues in 1998. A Jan. 4, 1999 article in China Computerworld described Zhang as “a confident man of action” who compares himself to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. In October of that year Zhang beat Yahoo! to the punch and debuted the first Chinese language search engine, Sohu.com. The concept took off and by April 1999 CNNIC reported that Sohu was the most popular search engine in China.

SOHU.com Inc. went public with a listing on the NASDAQ Market in July 2000. In May 2003 Charles Zhang joined the SOHU-sponsored China Mount Everest team to a height of 6,666 meters in an expedition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the tallest mountain’s human conquest. In July 2003 Time Magazine featured Charles Zhang as one of 15 Global Tech Gurus. SOHU was chosen in November last year as the official Internet content sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Its goal was to raise over US$86 million by issuing common stock, to upgrade Sohu’s networking and computer infrastructure, expand sales, boost marketing efforts, increase personnel and pursue acquisitions and investments. Zhang is, or at least looks to be, too young and trendy to be the president of such a large company, with more than 100 million registered users.

By the end of 1999, Sohu was ranked the third most popular website in China. Along with the development of his business, Zhang Chaoyang has become a business icon himself. He was listed as one of ‘The 50 World Cyber Elites’ by TIME Magazine.

For his participation with the Internet and information technology issues, Zhang has received numerous honors. He was named by Time Weekly as one of the Time Digital Cyber Elite Top 50 in 1998, listed by China Youth Daily as one of the Top Ten Information Technology Men of the Year from 1999 to 2001, and selected by Asia Week as a cover figure in 1997. Fortune Magazine named him one of the top 25 new corporate stars in 2001.

Beijing to deliver a speech on the “Web Economy’s Recovery and Forecast.” Mr. Zhang is regarded as an example of China’s neo-economy and valued as the “Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economy Forum.

“People perceived the Internet as something too technical,” says Zhang. And he says, “People who know nothing about computers now realize they can make life so interesting.” Zhang attracts 20 million users a day, a big chunk of China’s 68 million-person Net community, and it’s profitable, helping to send the stock soaring in the past year.