Major Chinese internet company buys eSports game developer
News on 24 Dec 2015
News on 24 Dec 2015
Riot Games, developer of the League of Legends multiplayer game that has taken the eSports world by storm, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of billion-dollar Chinese Internet company Ten Cent.
In February 2011 Ten Cent bought a majority shareholding in the company, which it has now augmented to take full ownership and control.
Approached by the publication TechCrunch for comment, Ten Cent issued the following statement:
“We confirm that we recently purchased the remaining equity of Riot. We owned around 93 percent of Riot prior to this recent purchase.”
TechCrunch reports that the majority stake bought back in 2011 was for a consideration of over $350 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report back then. Ten Cent continued to invest in building its stake in the company, leading to the current transaction and assumption of full ownership for an unknown sum.
Ten Cent’s other gaming deals include investments in Activision Blizzard, Korea’s 4:33 Creative Lab, Glu Mobile, and Epic Games.
US-based Riot Games was founded in 2006
In a statement earlier this year Riot Games management said that major changes are planned for the company’s product in 2016, inspired mainly by the success of League of Legends in the eSports sector.
