Sogou Inc,a subsidiary of Sohu.com Inc,plans to issue its IP0.[Photo/CFP]

Sogou, the search engine unit of Chinese Internet company Sohu.com Inc is aiming to overtake Google Inc by market share in China within a year in the wake of the US company's decision to pull out of the world's biggest web market.

Sogou's revenue would likely exceed $20 million in the fourth quarter and the company would report a profit next year, Chief Executive Wang Xiaochuan told Reuters in an interview.

"Our search volumes doubled in the past year, which led to very fast growth in our revenue, and I don't see what's so difficult about reporting a profit next year," Wang said. "Our real aim is to overtake Google in China within a year."

Sogou is also looking to increase its staff headcount by more than 30 percent to 800 by the end of the year, helped by growing revenue and an upcoming venture with Alibaba Group to create a web browser for e-commerce.

"A web browser is key for all e-commerce activities, regardless of what it is," Wang said. "We want to design a browser that is safe and convenient, especially for Taobao users."

Taobao is China's largest e-commerce website and accounted for 70 percent of all online sales transacted in China in the first quarter of this year.