Qihoo 360 / 奇虎 360

Overview

Qihoo 360 / 奇虎 360 is the Chinese internet and security company that No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 uses to explain 周鸿祎’s return from Yahoo China into PC security, browser traffic, search, mobile distribution, and later enterprise security.

Current Profile

The episode frames Qihoo 360 as a company built from a paradox: it used anti-rogue-software trust to answer the kind of browser-plugin behavior associated with 3721, then converted free security into a large traffic and platform system. Its later history shows the difficulty of carrying a PC-era entry-point advantage into mobile, content, enterprise security, finance, and public-market repositioning.

Key Characteristics

• Security-first consumer product that began with “rogue software” cleanup and became a trusted mass-market PC utility.
• Free-software challenger that disrupted paid antivirus incumbents and made Free Security Software Strategy / 免费安全软件策略 a China-internet platform tactic.
• Browser and navigation traffic owner whose security suite, browser, URL navigation, and software manager formed a bundled entry-point system.
• Aggressive platform competitor involved in conflicts with Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, Yahoo Assistant, CNNIC, and legacy antivirus vendors.
• Post-PC transformer that pursued mobile assistants, content/live products, finance, “big security,” 360 Security Brain, and government/enterprise/IoT security.

Evidence

• Product launch and traction: No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 says 360 Security Guard launched in July 2006, worked with Kaspersky, reached 20 million installs by late 2006, and reached 40 million by mid-2007.
• Free security turn: No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 says Zhou decided in late 2007 to launch free antivirus, with active users reaching 29% of Chinese internet users by late 2009 and 63.5% by 2011.
• Browser entry: No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 says Qihoo worked with TheWorld Browser in 2008, then had more than 200 million 360 browser users and about 55% share by mid-2012.
• Conflict and platform risk: No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 places Qihoo 360 in anti-rogue disputes, 3Q 大战, Xiaomi phone conflict, and 360-Baidu search litigation.
• Later business shape: No.216 ⚔️ 「十步杀一人」：红衣大炮周鸿祎的三十年全面战争史 | 中国互联网故事 27 covers Qihoo 360’s 2011 NYSE listing, 2016 privatization, 2018 A-share return through Jiangnan Jiajie, content failures, Qifu finance branch, Qianxin separation, and 2017 “big security” strategy.

Qualifications

The source’s market shares, revenue figures, legal summaries, investment amounts, and operating claims are preserved as episode-attributed evidence. This page does not independently resolve the legal or technical merits of each software-conflict accusation.

What Changed

• Added Qihoo 360 as the company page tying free security, PC browser traffic, 3Q, search, and later enterprise-security repositioning into one profile.

Relationships

• 周鸿祎 / Zhou Hongyi - founder and public strategic face of the company.
• 齐向东 / Qi Xiangdong - cofounder/operator relationship and later Qianxin separation context.
• Free Security Software Strategy / 免费安全软件策略 - core consumer-security growth tactic.
• Chinese Internet Entry-Point Competition / 中文互联网入口竞争 - browser, navigation, search, and mobile distribution role.
• 3Q War / 3Q 大战 - defining conflict with Tencent.
• Baidu - search competitor and litigation counterparty in the 360 search episode.
• Tencent - platform-war counterparty in the 3Q episode.
• 3721 - reputation reversal and anti-rogue-software prehistory.