According to a story appearing in techinasia.com , a Chinese search engine, Qihoo 360 spent “millions” to buy the domain name So.com.

According to the story, the the company  shell out the millions for the domain because its “more than a short pronounceable word ,‘S’ stand for “safe” and ‘O’ stands for “open” in English. That’s in line with what Qihoo, which started out in the anti-virus business, is mainly selling and promoting: security”.

“When 360 Search launched, they used the rather awkward “so.360.cn”, and they changed it a couple of times along the way. ”

“They had domains like “360sou.com” and also “360so.com”. ”

“Furthermore, So.com was only decided after a long discussion and debate among Qihoo’s management. ”

“Zhou commented on his Weibo account, saying that the more trendy staffers in his office prefer so.com because it’s short and easy to remember; the more traditional ones prefer sou.com as it is the proper pinyin (Anglisized) version of the word “search” in chinese. And there are those in the neutral camp who couldn’t make up their mind on which is better, and suggested Qihoo.com.”