Shanda Group is a privately -owned multinational investment firm. With offices in Shanghai , Singapore , Hong Kong , New York and Redwood City , the firm invests in public markets, real estate and venture capital, focusing on companies in the fields of healthcare, financial services, media, and technology. The company was established in December 1999 as Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited , an online gaming company known for publishing and operating games such as The World of Legend and Magical Land . By 2004 Shanda was the largest online game company in China, and its listing on the NASDAQ that year under ticker SNDA was the largest IPO for a Chinese internet company in the United States . Shanda Interactive later diversified and its gaming unit spun off in 2009, raising $ 1.04 billion in an IPO (GAME). Shanda Group was taken private in 2012 by its founders, and by 2017 it had $ 8 billion in net assets under management.
56-592: Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited was founded in December 1999 by Chen Tianqiao , Chrissy Luo, and Chen Danian . With headquarters in Shanghai , and USD $ 60,000 in startup capital, the company also raised $ 3 million to focus on online cartoons, gaming and virtual communities. Settling on online gaming, in 2001 the company used the final $ 300,000 of its startup funds to buy the Chinese rights to Legend of Mir II , licensing
112-794: A 30 percent stake in NCsoft China, giving Shanda the rights to distribute the popular game Aion in China. Shanda Games Limited had become a business unit of Shanda Interactive by early 2008, and Shanda Interactive continued to diversify. In 2008, Shanda Interactive established Shanda Literature Limited as a business unit with former Sina executive editor Xiaoqiang Hou as CEO. Shanda Literature began offering literature and other publications through websites, offline publication and phones. The unit purchased Qidian, Hongxiu, and jjwxc.com, three of China's biggest literary portals, as well as publishing companies such as tingbook.com, Huawentianxia, and Zhongzhibowen. Qidian
168-787: A 9.9 percent stake in Baltimore 's Legg Mason that April, Shanda Group increased its stake in Lending Club to 15.1 percent in June, making it the company's single biggest investor. Shanda Group sold its 2 percent stake in Sotheby's in August 2016. By December 2016 it had also purchased a 13.8 percent stake in Community Health Systems . That month Shanda Group increased its stake in Legg Mason to 15%, remaining
224-520: A French defense firm. Motorola's biometric business unit was headquartered in Anaheim, California. The deal closed in April 2009. The unit became part of Sagem Morpho , which was renamed MorphoTrak . On March 26, 2008, Motorola's board of directors approved a split into two different publicly traded companies. This came after talk of selling the company to another corporation. These new companies would comprise
280-699: A ban on the use of water that lasted three days and affected almost 5000 people in the area. Motorola was found to be the main source of the TCE, an industrial solvent that is thought to cause cancer. The TCE contamination was caused by a faulty blower on an air stripping tower that was used to take TCE from the water, and Motorola has attributed the situation to operator error. Of eighteen leading electronics manufacturers in Greenpeace 's Guide to Greener Electronics (October 2010), Motorola shared sixth place with competitors Panasonic and Sony . Motorola scored relatively well on
336-671: A deal that valued the company at $ 2.3 billion. According to the New York Times , it was "one of the biggest such deals involving a Chinese company." By the time Tianqiao Chen sold his stake in Shanda Games in 2014, Shanda Group had become an investment firm focused on the internet and finance. After expanding Shanda with a series of rapid acquisitions, by 2015 Shanda had invested in 140 companies. In 2016, Shanda Group acquired stakes in LendingClub , Legg Mason , and Sotheby's . After acquiring
392-499: A further 4,000 job cuts in June and another 20% cut of its research division a few days later. In July 2008, a large number of executives left Motorola to work on Apple Inc. 's iPhone . The company's handset division was also put on offer for sale. Also that month, analyst Mark McKechnie from American Technology Research said that Motorola "would be lucky to fetch $ 500 million" for selling its handset business. Analyst Richard Windsor said that Motorola might have to pay someone to take
448-553: A more central player in the early stages of the GSM standardization process in 1987. With this addition Motorola strengthened its position in Europe significantly. As Motorola's European development arm, Storno developed a GSM terminal in 1992. On January 29, 1988, Motorola sold its Arcade, New York facility and automotive alternators, electromechanical speedometers and tachometers products to Prestolite Electric . In 1996, Motorola released
504-518: Is a Chinese businessman who founded Shanda . Chen was born in Xinchang County , Zhejiang Province, China in 1973 and grew up near Shanghai with his younger brother Danian . His father was an engineer and his mother was a middle school English teacher. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Fudan University in 1993. Chen started at the state-owned property developer Shanghai Lujiazui Group in 1994, holding management positions in
560-566: Is married to Qianqian "Chrissy" Luo. They moved from Shanghai to Singapore in 2009, then from Singapore to the Bay Area of California in late 2017. They are currently residents of Menlo Park, California . In 2018, Chen bought a historic mansion built for Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt in 1881 on East 69th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan for $ 39 million. Motorola Motorola, Inc. ( / ˌ m oʊ t ə ˈ r oʊ l ə / )
616-719: The Chinese Communist Party at age 18 and was elected to the central committee of Communist Youth League of China in Shanghai. In 2008, Chen was appointed to the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). In 2013, Chen was appointed to the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC. Chen is chairman of the Shanda Group, and is also on the boards of various portfolio companies. Chen
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#1732851401324672-797: The Motorola Droid , was released in 2009 (the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division, along with the cable set-top box and modem businesses, were later spun off into Motorola Mobility. Motorola was founded in Chicago, Illinois , as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (at 847 West Harrison Street) in 1928. Paul Galvin wanted a brand name for Galvin Manufacturing Corporation's new car radio, and created
728-573: The Motorola StarMax , which was a Macintosh clone that was licensed by Apple and it came with System 7 . However, with the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997, Apple released Mac OS 8 . Because the clone makers' licenses were valid only for Apple's System 7 operating system, Apple's release of Mac OS 8 left the clone manufacturers unable to ship a current Mac OS version without negotiation with Apple. A heated telephone conversation between Jobs and then Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin resulted in
784-681: The United States . At the time it was the largest IPO of a Chinese internet company in the United States, and shortly afterwards Shanda became the largest internet company by market capitalization in China. In October 2004 Shanda issued US$ 275 million convertible notes to be redeemable in October 2007. That month Shanda was operating eight games and hosting 1.2 million simultaneous players. As of May 2005, 300,000 locations, among them 130,000 internet cafes, sold prepaid cards for Shanda's games and game usage
840-422: The public relations office before becoming secretary to the chairman. In 1998, he became the vice director of the office of the president at Kinghing Trust & Investment before resigning in 1999. In 1999, Chen started the online gaming company Shanda with members of his family. The company went on to become the largest Internet company by market capitalization in China in 2004. That same year, Chen
896-681: The "freemium" model was then uncommon in China. The change proved controversial in Wall Street and Shanda's share price initially dropped 70%. Shanda defended the change, arguing that free games accounted for most of the top titles in South Korea, a trend which could be replicated in China. It was later revealed that once Shanda's games adopted this model, average customer spending increased from 30 Chinese yuan to 55 Chinese yuan per quarter. Revenue rebounded after about nine months, and in 2006, Shanda Interactive's internet games sales increased 44 percent from
952-633: The Legg Mason board. Chen has invested in the venture funds Propel(x) and Ubiquity Ventures. Ranked on various rich lists, Chen personally had $ 4 billion in net value in 2017 and was ranked as the 93rd richest person in China, according to the Hurun Report . In 2018, Chen purchased 500,000 acres in Ontario . The same year, the Committee of 100 gave Chen an award for Lifetime Achievement as Tech Entrepreneur. According to China Youth Daily , Chen joined
1008-506: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the DynaTAC 8000X telephone, the world's first commercial cellular device. By 1998, cellphones accounted for two thirds of Motorola's gross revenue. In 1986 Motorola acquired Storno resulting in a whole new range of innovative communication products for the new owner, including the NMT , an automatic cellular phone system, and made Motorola
1064-472: The U.S. state of Illinois) included the Village of River Forest, Village of Bellwood Police Department, City of Evanston Police, Illinois State Highway Police, and Cook County (Chicago area) Police. Many of Motorola's products have been radio-related, starting with a battery eliminator for battery powered radios (during the burgeoning electrification of rural homes), through the first hand-held walkie-talkie in
1120-710: The United States, it is one of the larger owners of timberland in North America , In 2018, the company opened Shanda World, a large development in Shanghai with office and retail space with around 700,000 meters. Also in 2018, Shanda Group began focusing on neuroscience and brain-related companies, and had already invested in around "100 advanced technology ventures integrating virtual reality technology and neuroscience." As of 2018, Shanda Group has offices in Shanghai , Hong Kong , Singapore , New York and Menlo Park . Chen Tianqiao Chen Tianqiao ( Chinese : 陈天桥 ; pinyin : Chén Tiānqiáo ); born 1973)
1176-531: The business units of Motorola Mobile Devices and Motorola Broadband & Mobility Solutions. Originally it was expected that this action would be approved by regulatory bodies and complete by mid-2009, but the split was delayed due to company restructuring problems and the 2008–2009 extreme economic downturn. On February 11, 2010, Motorola announced it would separate into two independent, publicly traded companies. The cell phone and cable television equipment businesses would spin off to form Motorola Mobility , while
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#17328514013241232-532: The chemicals criteria and has a goal to eliminate PVC plastic and Brominated flame retardants (BFRs), though only in mobile devices and not in all its products introduced after 2010, despite the fact that Sony Ericsson and Nokia were already there. All of its mobile phones were now PVC-free and it had two PVC and BFR-free mobile phones, the A45 ECO and the GRASP; all chargers were also free from PVC and BFRs. The company
1288-537: The company reported a profit of $ 162 million, which compared very favorably to the $ 26 million earned for the same period the year before. Its Mobile Devices division reported, for the first time in years, earnings of $ 87 million. Motorola, Inc., along with the Arizona Water Co. had been identified as the sources of trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination that took place in Scottsdale, Arizona . The malfunction led to
1344-503: The company spun off Shanda Games in the largest IPO with the ticker GAME in the United States that year, raising $ 1.04 billion. At the time, Shanda Games provided 77 percent of Shanda Interactive's revenue, although the company also continued to be active in online literature, video, and other forms of entertainment. Shanda Literature controlled 90 percent of the online reading market in China by early 2010. That year Shanda Interactive recorded operating revenues of $ 232.3 million, 2% higher than
1400-462: The division off the company's hands, and that Motorola may even exit the handset market altogether. Its global market share has been on the decline; from 18.4% of the market in 2007 the company had a share of just 6.0% by Q1 2009, but at last, Motorola scored a profit of $ 26 million in Q2 and showed an increase of 12% in stocks for the first time after losses in many quarters. During the second quarter of 2010,
1456-510: The end of 2002 the company had $ 42 million in revenue and $ 17 million in net profits, with an average of 280,000 people playing its games simultaneously. Shanda ceased partnering with WeMade in 2003 after a dispute over sharing profits on Legend of Mir 2 , developing its own game The World of Legend in-house. WeMade considered the game to be a copy of Mir 2 and sued, reaching a settlement in 2009. Legend of Mir 2 and World of Legend accounted for 87.5 percent of Shanda Interactive's revenue in
1512-643: The end of 2005 it had a market capitalization of $ 1.8 billion and was China's biggest gaming company. Founder Chen Tianqiao was estimated to have a net worth of $ 1.45 billion, with the press dubbing him the "Chinese Bill Gates ." In the summer of 2005, Shanda Interactive's revenue dropped significantly as its old hit Legend of Mir II began to lose subscribers. With the intent of extending the life of its older MMORPGs , in December 2005, Shanda announced that its three major games Magical Land , Woool , and Legend of Mir II would be forever be free to play . Allowing gamers to pay for in-game items instead of subscriptions,
1568-449: The famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" from the Moon on a Motorola transceiver. In 1973, Motorola demonstrated the first hand-held portable telephone. In 1974, Motorola introduced its first microprocessor, the 8-bit MC6800 , used in automotive, computing and video game applications. The 6800 was the basis for the more popular MOS Technology 6502 which
1624-561: The first quarter of 2004. To reduce dependence on those two games, Shanda released the self-developed game The Sign in February 2004, and by April was also working on the in-house titles Age and Magical Land . Shanda Interactive listed on the NASDAQ in May 2004, raising $ 152 million with the initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker SNDA and becoming the first Chinese online games company listed in
1680-667: The game from the South Korean company WeMade Soft . Published in China that September, the game began to turn a profit after two months. Expanding out of Shanghai city by city, Shanda Interactive shared its revenue with regional telecommunications companies. Because home internet access in China was limited at the time, Shanda Interactive began constructing a network of around 200,000 internet cafes . The company also began selling pre-paid cards to purchase game time, eventually establishing around 400,000 retail outlets. Shanda continued to license international online games after Mir II , and at
1736-560: The intellectual property of Sendo for $ 30,000 and paid £362,575 for the plant, machinery and equipment. In June 2006, Motorola acquired the software platform ( AJAR ) developed by the British company TTP Communications plc. Later in 2006, the firm announced a music subscription service named iRadio . The technology came after a break in a partnership with Apple Computer (which in 2005 had produced an iTunes compatible cell phone ROKR E1 , and most recently, mid-2007, its own iPhone ). iRadio
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1792-661: The largest foreign owners of land in the United States. Tianqiao Chen and his family sold all their stakes in Shanda Games in November 2014, after which Shanda Group refocused on investing. With Chen remaining chairman and CEO, by early 2017 Shanda Group was the majority shareholder of Legg Mason , Lending Club , and Community Health Systems . It also had property operations in China and North America and stakes in companies such as Sotheby's . Shanda sold its stakes in Sotheby's in 2017 and then it sold its stake Legg Mason later that year, and then Chen resigned as vice-chairman of
1848-632: The largest shareholder in Lending Club and Community Health Systems, maintaining a minority stake in Legg Mason. By 2018, the venture capital arm of Shanda Group had invested in around 120 companies in China focused on internet and mobile software, and also had investments in around 30 "advanced technology companies" in Iceland , Indonesia , Russia , the United Kingdom , Israel , and the United States. Today it has also invested in over 55 early-stage, deep technology investment funds. With real estate in China and
1904-444: The largest shareholder. Shanda Group also gained two board seats in Legg Mason in 2017 and advised customizing Legg Mason's investment products for clients in China. At the start of 2017, Shanda Group had $ 8 billion in net assets under management. By 2018, Shanda Group invested in public markets, real estate and venture capital, focusing on companies in the fields of healthcare, financial services, media, and technology. Shanda remained
1960-469: The links immediately upon notice, a Shanghai court ruled in Shanda's favor in May 2011. In 2008, Shanda Interactive paid $ 80 million to acquire Mochi Media , an online game distributor in the United States. Shanda was the "largest online entertainment provider in China" by early 2009. That April the company reported that its MMORPG Aion had acquired 1 million paying users within four days of its release. In 2009,
2016-624: The name "Motorola" by linking "motor" (from motor car) with "ola" (from Victrola ), which was also a popular ending for many companies at the time, e.g. Moviola , Crayola . The company sold its first Motorola branded radio on June 23, 1930, to Herbert C. Wall of Fort Wayne, Indiana, for $ 30. The Motorola brand name became so well known that Galvin Manufacturing Corporation later changed its name to Motorola, Inc., in 1947. Galvin Manufacturing Corporation began selling Motorola car-radio receivers to police departments and municipalities in November 1930. The company's first public safety customers (all in
2072-428: The prior year. By the fall of 2011, Shanda Interactive offered MMORPGs, casual games, film, music, and literature on an "integrated service platform." With most of its audiences in China, the company had subsidiaries and affiliates such as Ku6 Media . Shanda Literature was renamed Cloudary in 2011, and that October the unit filed to go public in the United States with an IPO of about $ 200 million. By March 2012, Cloudary
2128-414: The remainder of Motorola, Inc., which comprised the government and enterprise equipment businesses, would become Motorola Solutions . The split was closed on January 4, 2011. Motorola Mobility was eventually acquired by Google on May 22, 2012. Google later sold Motorola Mobility's cable equipment business to Arris Group in December 2012, and Motorola Mobility itself to Lenovo on October 30, 2014. At
2184-606: The termination of Motorola's clone contract, the discontinuation of the Motorola StarMax, and the long-favored Apple being demoted to "just another customer" mainly for PowerPC CPUs. Apple (and Jobs) did not want Motorola to limit the PowerPC CPU supply so as retaliation, Apple and IBM expelled Motorola from the AIM alliance and forced Motorola to stop producing any PowerPC CPUs, leaving IBM to make all future PowerPC CPUs. However, Motorola
2240-468: The time of its split, Motorola had three divisions: Motorola's handset division recorded a loss of $ 1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, while the company as a whole earned $ 100 million during that quarter. It lost several key executives to rivals, and the website TrustedReviews called the company's products repetitive and un-innovative. Motorola laid off 3,500 workers in January 2008, followed by
2296-448: The value of World War II military production contracts. Motorola went public in 1943, and became Motorola, Inc. in 1947. At that time Motorola's main business was producing and selling televisions and radios. The last plant was listed in Quincy, Illinois at 1400 North 30th Street where 1,200 employees made radio assemblies for both homes and automobiles. In 1969, Neil Armstrong spoke
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2352-527: The world in 1940, defense electronics, cellular infrastructure equipment, and mobile phone manufacturing. In the same year, the company built its research and development program with Dan Noble , a pioneer in FM radio and semiconductor technologies, who joined the company as director of research. The company produced the hand-held AM SCR-536 radio during World War II , which was vital to Allied communication. Motorola ranked 94th among United States corporations in
2408-676: The world's first commercial GPRS cellular network to BT Cellnet in the United Kingdom. Motorola also developed the world's first GPRS cell phone. In August 2000, Motorola acquired Printrak International Inc. for $ 160 million. In doing so, Motorola not only acquired computer aided dispatch and related software, but also acquired Automated fingerprint identification system software. With recent acquisitions from that year, Motorola reached its peak employment of 150,000 employees worldwide. Two years later, employment would be at 93,000 due to layoffs and spinoffs. In June 2005, Motorola overtook
2464-616: The year prior. Shanda Interactive announced in February 2007 that the free-to-play model was proving lucrative, and shares increased 10 percent in value that day. Following Shanda's example, other Chinese online game operators began declaring many of their titles free to play. By 2007, most new games in China were using the freemium model. In July 2006, Motorola announced it would launch wireless versions of Shanda's games in China, with World of Legend and Magical Land to be playable on certain Motorola E680g handsets. By November 2006, Shanda
2520-572: Was "up 70% from a year earlier." Shanda purchased about 20% of Sina.com for $ 230 million in 2005, becoming Sina's largest shareholder. Operating as an online advertising firm, Sina.com was the most popular internet portal in China at the time. Also that year Shanda purchased the mobile game provider Digital-Red and the literature website Qidian . In 2005, Shanda also began working with search engine Baidu and partnered with Universal Music Group to support music streaming on PCs in China. Shanda revealed two hardware products in October 2005. The EZ mini
2576-477: Was a handheld wireless gaming device, while the EZ Center/EZ Pod software for was remote PC control. Shanda employed 2,000 game developers at its headquarters at the end of 2005, and had recently purchased motion-capture equipment to speed the animation process. With six game titles at the time, four of those had been developed in-house. On average, Shanda's revenues doubled each year between 2001 and 2005, and at
2632-767: Was a pioneer in cellular telephones. Also known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the "mobile phone" with the first truly mobile "brick phone" DynaTAC , "flip phone" with the MicroTAC as well as the "clam phone" with the StarTAC in the mid-1990s. It had staged a resurgence by the mid-2000s with the RAZR , but lost market share in the second half of that decade. Later it focused on smartphones using Google 's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use Android 2.0 "Eclair" ,
2688-494: Was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois . It was founded in 1928 as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin. The company changed its name to Motorola in 1947. After having lost $ 4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, Motorola was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions , on January 4, 2011. The reorganization
2744-487: Was expanding from online games into an "entertainment empire on the Internet, mobile phones and TVs," according to China Daily . Shanda sold 4 million shares of Sina Corp for $ 129 million in February 2007. In June 2007, Shanda Interactive signed licensing and distribution agreements to expand World of Legend , Magical Land and Crazy Kart into Vietnam , Hong Kong and Macao . In November 2007, Shanda Interactive purchased
2800-532: Was later reinstated into the alliance in 1998. In 1998, Motorola was overtaken by Nokia as the world's biggest seller of mobile phone handsets. In 1999, Motorola separated a portion of its semiconductor business—the Semiconductor Components Group (SCG)-- and formed onsemi (then ON Semiconductor ), whose headquarters were located in Phoenix, Arizona . In June 2000, Motorola and Cisco supplied
2856-548: Was made by former Motorola employees. That same year, Motorola sold its television business to the Japan-based Matsushita – the parent company of Panasonic . In 1980, Motorola's next generation 32-bit microprocessor, the MC68000 , led the wave of technologies that spurred the computing revolution in 1984, powering devices from companies such as Apple , Commodore , Atari , Sun , and Hewlett-Packard . In September 1983,
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#17328514013242912-655: Was second on the Hurun Report 's "rich list", was voted China Central Television 's "Rising Business Star", and was featured in MIT Technology Review ' s Innovators Under 35 list. Shanda Group went private in early 2012, with Chen, his wife, and his brother keeping a combined 57% stake. In 2015, Chen, as the beneficial owner of Shanda Asset Management, acquired over 80,127 hectares of land in Oregon from Fidelity National Financial for US$ 85 million, making him one of
2968-797: Was structured with Motorola Solutions legally succeeding Motorola, Inc., and Motorola Mobility being spun off. Motorola designed and sold wireless network equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top boxes , digital video recorders , and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television . Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems (used to build private networks), and public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra . These businesses, except for set-top boxes and cable modems , became part of Motorola Solutions. Motorola's wireless telephone handset division
3024-420: Was the largest Chinese online literature platform in 2008, with 20 million registered accounts. In 2009, Shanda Literature spurred controversy for promoting the popular writers Guo Jingming and vivibear , both accused of plagiarism. In 2010, Shanda Literature sued the search engine Baidu.com for providing links to pirated versions of Shanda Literature's copyrighted material. Agreeing that Baidu did not remove
3080-444: Was the largest online publishing platform in China, with 1.6 million authors and 6 million titles. Three years later, Cloudary was merged with Tencent Holdings . Shareholders of Shanda Interactive Entertainment voted "overwhelmingly" in February 2012 to accept a buyout from the company's three founders. Paying $ 740 million for about 25 percent of the shares, Chrissy Luo, Tianqiao Chen, and Danian Chen took Shanda Interactive private in
3136-464: Was to have many similarities with existing satellite radio services (such as Sirius and XM Radio ) by offering live streams of commercial-free music content. Unlike satellite services, however, iRadio content would be downloaded via a broadband internet connection. However, iRadio was never commercially released. Greg Brown became Motorola's chief executive officer in 2008. In October 2008, Motorola agreed to sell its Biometrics business to Safran ,
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