Kongzhong

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]

Kongzhong Corp
NASDAQ: KZ
FoundedMay 6, 2002 (2002-05-06)[1]
FounderNick Yang[2]
Headquarters
Beijing
,
People's Republic of China[1]
Key people
Leilei Wang,[1] CEO
Number of employees
1,000 (2008)[3]
Websitewww.kongzhong.com (Chinese)
Kongzhong
Simplified Chinese空中网
Literal meaningAir Networks

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 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. "Company Profile". Kongzhong. 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  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. "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. 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. "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. "Class Action Lawsuit Against KongZhong".
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