Chinese online game company Shanda (SNDA) says it has started a new business unit called Shanda Literature Limited to focus on publishing original reader-generated literary works.
Xiaoqiang Hou, CEO of Shanda Literature, said, "Shanda Literature will bring together the most talented writers in Chinese online literature. An important driver of new growth is the potential to boost overall interaction between authors and readers. Shanda Literature will play a major role in capturing this opportunity."
Shanda Literature aims to be the leading company in China's online literature market, targeting a diversified base of readers. Shanda Literature currently operates Qidian.com, jjwxc.com and hongxiu.com. Established in June 2002, Qidian.com is now one of the largest Chinese online literature platforms with more than 20 million registered accounts and daily traffic of 220 million page views, and Shanda acquired qidian.com in October 2004. Hongxiu.com is a pure literature platform in China with 1.8 million registered accounts and was acquired by Shanda in March 2008. Jjwxc.com focuses on female readers with 700,000 registered accounts, and it was acquired by Shanda in August 2007.
Shanda also announced the appointment of Xiaoqiang Hou as Shanda Literature's chief executive officer, and Wenhui Wu as its president. Xuesong Shang, Peng Sun and Xudong Liu are the new vice presidents.