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.
[12][13] With headquarters in Shanghai,[14] and USD $60,000 in startup capital,[15] the company also raised $3 million to focus on online cartoons,[16] gaming and virtual communities.
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.
On average, Shanda's revenues doubled each year between 2001 and 2005, and at the end of 2005 it had a market capitalization of $1.8 billion and was China's biggest gaming company.
"[6] In the summer of 2005, Shanda Interactive's revenue dropped significantly as its old hit Legend of Mir II began to lose subscribers.
[21][22] With the intent of extending the life of its older MMORPGs,[23] in December 2005, Shanda announced that its three major games[22] Magical Land, Woool,[citation needed] and Legend of Mir II would be forever be free to play.
[8] 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.
[24] Revenue rebounded after about nine months, and in 2006, Shanda Interactive's internet games sales increased 44 percent from the year prior.
[citation needed] Shanda Interactive announced in February 2007 that the free-to-play model was proving lucrative, and shares increased 10 percent in value that day.
[25] By November 2006, Shanda was expanding from online games into an "entertainment empire on the Internet, mobile phones and TVs," according to China Daily.
[26] 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.
[31] The unit purchased Qidian, Hongxiu, and jjwxc.com,[29] three of China's biggest literary portals,[31] as well as publishing companies such as tingbook.com, Huawentianxia, and Zhongzhibowen.
[36] In 2008, Shanda Interactive paid $80 million to acquire Mochi Media, an online game distributor in the United States.
[39] By the fall of 2011, Shanda Interactive offered MMORPGs, casual games, film, music, and literature on an "integrated service platform."
[3] 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 the largest shareholder in Lending Club and Community Health Systems, maintaining a minority stake in Legg Mason.
With real estate in China and the United States, it is one of the larger owners of timberland in North America,[1] In 2018, the company opened Shanda World, a large development in Shanghai with office and retail space[48] with around 700,000 meters.