Kongzhong
 | |
| Nasdaq: KZ | |
| Founded | May 6, 2002[1] |
| Founder | Nick Yang[2] |
| Headquarters | Beijing , China[1] |
Key people | Leilei Wang (CEO) |
Number of employees | 1,000 (2008)[3] |
| Website | www.kongzhong.com (Chinese) |
| Kongzhong | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 空中网 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Air Networks | ||||||
| |||||||
Kongzhong Corporation 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,[1] such as mobile message boards, WAP websites, and electronic books;[4] ring tones;[5] ringback tones;[6] mobile games;[1] and Internet games.[4]
Games
[edit]While the company was making subscription-based mobile games as early as 2005,[6] its mobile games business expanded with the 2012 acquisition of Noumena[4] AKA Nuomina, developer of a "cross-platform mobile game engine" that allows games to be played on Android, iOS, and with HTML5.[7] Some early mobile games were coded in Java.[7]
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.[8] It also operates a handful of self-developed titles.[4] The company derives revenue from some of these massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Tanks, through the sale of virtual goods.[4]
Mobile content
[edit]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.[9] Kongzhong may have patterned its early mobile business model off of Japanese companies[10] 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.[11]
History
[edit]Founded by serial entrepreneur Nick Yang in 2002 with venture capital funding, he may no longer be able to play an active role.[2]
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
[edit]A securities class-action lawsuit against Kongzhong Corporation was settled for $3.5 million in 2006.[13] The complaint stemmed from a perception that prior to the issuance of an IPO, the company likely provided a misleading prospectus.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Company Profile". Kongzhong. 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
- ^ a b Bye, Adrian (n.d.). "Nick Yang from KongZhong Corporation". Adrian Bye's Meet Innovators. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
- ^ "Chinas Portal KongZhong Standardizes on CHRM." Wireless News. Close-Up Media, Inc. 2008. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
- ^ a b c d e "KongZhong Corp (KONG.O): FULL DESCRIPTION". reuters.com. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 2009-11-15. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
- ^ John Liu. "KongZhong, Hurray! report lower fourth quarter net." China Daily. China Daily. 2006. HighBeam Research. 23 May. 2014
- ^ a b Rodney Wai-chi Wai-chi Chu; Leopoldina Fortunati; Pui-Lam Law; Shanhua Yang (2012). Mobile Communication and Greater China. Routledge Research on Social Work, Social Policy and Social Development in Greater China. Routledge. p. 91. ISBN 9781136325038.
- ^ a b "KONGZHONG & NVIDIA Cooperate to Create PC+ Mobile Games Feast." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2012. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
- ^ For World of Tanks, see "KongZhong Corporation and Wargaming.net Announce Strategic Partnership". Kongzhong. 2012-05-14. Retrieved 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
- ^ "Kongzhong coopère avec Opera sur un navigateur mobile". L’Atelier (in French). L’Atelier BNP Paribas. 20 July 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
- ^ "Une journée au milieu des entrepreneurs du Web à Pékin". L’Atelier (in French). L’Atelier BNP Paribas. 20 July 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
- ^ 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
- ^ "KongZhong Launches Project to Salvage Flying Tigers Fighter Aircraft in China." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2013. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
- ^ a b "Class Action Lawsuit Against KongZhong".
