Chinese online gaming company Shanda Interactive Entertainment Inc. will buy 51 percent stake inwireless value-added service company Hurray! Holding Co. Ltd. for US$46.2 million, reported Wednesday's China Daily.
Shanda said in a statement on Tuesday that it plans to acquire a controlling stake in the bleeding NASDAQ-listed Chinese ring tone provider.
Shanda is a provider of interactive online games and a variety of cartoons, literature works and music.
Hurray! started operation by selling ring tones and wallpapers but soon diversified into artist development and music production business.
By acquiring Hurray!, Shanda has managed to enter China's wireless service market, which is expected to get a fillip as telecom operators are aggressively pushing their 3G services.
Last month, Shanda submitted a draft registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the proposed IPO of its online game business, which takes up about 20 percent of China's booming online game market.
(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2009)
