Kongzhong Explained

Kongzhong Corp
Traded As:NASDAQ:
Founder:Nick Yang
Location City:Beijing
Location Country:People's Republic of China
Key People:Leilei Wang, CEO
Num Employees:1,000 (2008)[1]

Kongzhong Corp is a Chinese company that provides value-added services including video games via the Internet and various mobile networks. These include or included mobile web content, such as mobile message boards, WAP websites, and electronic books;[2] ring tones;[3] ringback tones; mobile games;[4] and Internet games.[2]

Games

While the company was making subscription-based mobile games as early as 2005,[5] its mobile games business expanded with the 2012 acquisition of Noumena[2] AKA Nuomina, developer of a "cross-platform mobile game engine" that allows games to be played on Android, iOS, and with HTML5.[6] Some early mobile games were coded in Java.[6]

The company doesn't confine itself to mobile games exclusively. It has a license to operate World of Tanks, other Wargaming properties, and Guild Wars 2 in China.[7] It also operates a handful of self-developed titles.[2] The company derives revenue from some of these massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Tanks, through the sale of virtual goods.[2]

Mobile content

A pioneer mobile value-added services provider, the company's first such products were for WAP. Kongzhong has, as of 2007, a partnership with Opera Software that allows a mobile version of the latter company's Opera browser to be downloaded in China.[8] Kongzhong may have patterned its early mobile business model off of Japanese companies[9] that successfully provided WAP-based value-added services to a domestic audience in the 1990s and early 2000s. Between 2005 and 2007 the company was being described as a provider of 2.5G mobile value-added services.[10]

History

Founded by serial entrepreneur Nick Yang in 2002 with venture capital funding, he may no longer be able to play an active role.[11]

In 2013 the company participated in an effort to locate a Flying Tigers P-40 thought to have crash landed in a Yunnan province lake in 1942.[12]

Lawsuits

A securities class-action lawsuit against Kongzhong Corporation was settled for $3.5 million in 2006. The complaint stemmed from a perception that prior to the issuance of an IPO, the company likely provided a misleading prospectus.[13]

Notes and References

  1. "Chinas Portal KongZhong Standardizes on CHRM." Wireless News. Close-Up Media, Inc. 2008. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  2. Web site: KongZhong Corp (KONG.O): FULL DESCRIPTION. Thomson Reuters . reuters.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20091115064750/http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=KONG.O . dead . 2009-11-15 . 2012-08-23.
  3. John Liu. "KongZhong, Hurray! report lower fourth quarter net." China Daily. China Daily. 2006. HighBeam Research. 23 May. 2014
  4. Web site: Company Profile . Kongzhong . 2009 . 2012-05-28.
  5. Book: Rodney Wai-chi Wai-chi Chu . Leopoldina Fortunati . Pui-Lam Law . Shanhua Yang . Mobile Communication and Greater China . Routledge . Routledge Research on Social Work, Social Policy and Social Development in Greater China . 2012 . 91 . 9781136325038.
  6. "KONGZHONG & NVIDIA Cooperate to Create PC+ Mobile Games Feast." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2012. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  7. For World of Tanks, see News: KongZhong Corporation and Wargaming.net Announce Strategic Partnership . Kongzhong . 2012-05-14 . 2012-05-28.
    • For Guild Wars 2, see "KongZhong to Launch Guild Wars 2." Wireless News. Close-Up Media, Inc. 2014. HighBeam Research. 23 May. 2014
  8. Web site: Kongzhong coopère avec Opera sur un navigateur mobile . L’Atelier BNP Paribas . French. L’Atelier . 20 July 2007 . January 8, 2013.
  9. Web site: Une journée au milieu des entrepreneurs du Web à Pékin . L’Atelier BNP Paribas . French. L’Atelier . 20 July 2007 . January 8, 2013.
  10. For 2005 mention, see "Wireless Channel: China's KongZhong Inks Pact with Greatdreams." Wireless News. Close-Up Media, Inc. 2005. HighBeam Research. "KongZhong, a provider of advanced second generation (2.5G) wireless value-added services in China..." 22 May. 2014
    • For 2007 mention, see Paul Cheung, CFA. "Kongzhong Upgraded to Buy - Analyst Blog." Zacks Investment Research - Analyst Blog. Zacks Investment Research. 2006. HighBeam Research. "...Kongzhong's leading position on 2.5G platform in China will help the company make full use of the wireless value-added service opportunity in the future. " 22 May. 2014
  11. News: Nick Yang from KongZhong Corporation . Adrian Bye's Meet Innovators . n.d. . June 10, 2012 . Bye, Adrian.
  12. "KongZhong Launches Project to Salvage Flying Tigers Fighter Aircraft in China." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2013. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  13. Web site: Class Action Lawsuit Against KongZhong.

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