(Telecompaper) Qihoo 360 Technology has confirmed it is in early talks with Sohu.com to buy its Sogou search engine, a deal estimated to be worth up to USD 1.4 billion. The deal would strengthen Qihoo's position on the search market, where it already ranks second after Baidu with a 15 percent market share. Qihoo stressed that the negotiations are still preliminary. "Right now we're not in the pricing stage yet. We're still trying to figure out a way whether we can get this piece of asset and fully integrate it," said Alex Xu, the company's co-chief financial officer, in a telephone interview with Reuters. Any deal would be mostly funded with Qihoo equity with a smaller portion funded by cash, he added. Analysts have estimated Sogou's search engine business could be worth USD 1.2-1.4 billion.