Kongzhong

Kongzhong Corp
Traded as NASDAQ: KZ
Founded May 6, 2002 (2002-05-06)[1]
Founder Nick Yang[2]
Headquarters Beijing, People's Republic of China[1]
Key people
 Leilei Wang,[1]
Number of employees
 1,000 (2008)[3]
Website www.kongzhong.com (Chinese)
Kongzhong
Simplified Chinese 空中网
Literal meaning Air Networks

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,[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

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.net 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

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

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

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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Company Profile". Kongzhong. 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  2. 1 2 Bye, Adrian (n.d.). "Nick Yang from KongZhong Corporation". Adrian Bye's Meet Innovators. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Chinas Portal KongZhong Standardizes on CHRM." Wireless News. Close-Up Media, Inc. 2008. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "KongZhong Corp (KONG.O): FULL DESCRIPTION". reuters.com. Thompson Reuters. Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  5. ↑ John Liu. "KongZhong, Hurray! report lower fourth quarter net." China Daily. China Daily. 2006. HighBeam Research. 23 May. 2014
  6. 1 2 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.
  7. 1 2 "KONGZHONG & NVIDIA Cooperate to Create PC+ Mobile Games Feast." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2012. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  8. ↑ 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
  9. ↑ "Kongzhong coopère avec Opera sur un navigateur mobile". L’Atelier (in French). L’Atelier BNP Paribas. 20 July 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ 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
  12. ↑ "KongZhong Launches Project to Salvage Flying Tigers Fighter Aircraft in China." China Weekly News. NewsRX. 2013. HighBeam Research. 22 May. 2014
  13. 1 2 "Class Action Lawsuit Against KongZhong".
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