Nicholas Ning

　　 HE doesn’t know much about computer technology, but Zhu Jun runs China’s third-largest online game company.He’s regularly photographed on sports pages as owner of a football club, generously rewarding his players, and he plays football with his game company staff every week.

　　 He doesn’t speak good English, but he managed to list his company on Nasdaq. And he studied at a prestigious Shanghai university, but never includes that in his public resume.

　　 Zhu, chief executive officer of Shanghai-based The9 Ltd, and owner of Shanghai United FC football club,appears a man of mystery.

　　 “I have many goals still to be accomplished, but the priority at this stage is to grow The9 Ltd to make it stronger,”said the 41-year-old.

　　 Casually dressed with his shirt sleeves rolled up, fiddling with a bottle of mineral water, he was interviewed at his game company in Pudong’s Zhangjiang High-Tech Park. “I’ll take my time and do it step by step,” he said.

　　 He wouldn’t talk about how he made his fortune, as he“felt tired of talking about it again and again,” although details in the press have been scanty.

　　 There are stories of how he rode a tricycle to deliver home appliances to make just 168 yuan in the 1980s,how he sold jackets and Santana sedans in his early days,quit Shanghai Jiao Tong University before graduation to work as a secretary in a state-owned company, and made his first fortune through international trade.

　　 In 1998, Zhu invested US$500,000 and registered his company GameNow Co in Hong Kong, later changing the name to The9 Ltd.

　　 At first it was an online virtual community site, but when the Internet bubble broke, The9 became an online game operator in 2002, running Korean-based Webzen Inc’s MU. “I have always been confident in the Internet’s future, although I knew nothing about the technology at that time,” Zhu said.

　　 Most of his peers who have succeeded in the Chinese Internet sector have information technology backgrounds. But Zhu has a sharp business sense, describing himself as an investor.

　　 Still, The9 was only a small company at first, no match for competitors such as NetEase or Shanda Interactive. The turning point came in 2004.

　　 In June that year, Zhu signed up with Vivendi’s game studio Blizzard Entertainment to operate its massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MORPG) World of Warcraft, or WoW, in China. Shortly after, he flew to the United States for his company’s initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange.

　　 “Nobody believed I could do it, because we weren’t yet profitable,” he said.

　　 The IPO was almost aborted in September that year, when his US underwriter quit. But he found another investment bank to continue the float.

　　 “I had to make it, to raise money for WoW, or we would be in a very difficult situation,” he said.

　　 His perseverance paid off.

　　 In December 2004, The9 Ltd was listed on Nasdaq, netting US$100 million from the IPO. That year, the company’s turnover was only 36.6 million yuan (US$4.6 million).

　　 But in 2005, profits soared to 489 million yuan, with more than 80 percent coming from the second half after WoW began operating in June. Last year the company made 700 million yuan in the first three quarters alone.

　　 It could be said that The9 Ltd relies too heavily on WoW, which accounted for more than 90 percent of its sales in the past two years.

　　 “I have to focus on WoW to build a good foundation for The9 at this phase,” said Zhu. He sees the first three years after the IPO as a “defensive period” to attract and maintain as many game players as possible.

　　 He aims to catch up with his opponents by developing a game platform for The9’s existing users, or develop a new business model.

　　 Speaking of his plans, Zhu looked excited, with his mind seeming to outrun his words. He has won exclusive licenses to run a few more multi-player role-playing games to diversify the company’s revenue streams.

　　 His latest collection includes Korean game developer Gravity Corp’s Ragnarok Online 2, clearing the shame he felt five years ago when his major rival Shanda Interactive won the license to run Legend of Mir in China.

　　 Zhu swore to his staff in 2002 that he would get MU and Ragnarok Online to compete with Shanda, or he would crawl around Citic Square on Nanjing Road W. He almost succeeded, but internal changes at Gravity Corp failed him.

　　 So at dawn one spring day, people going to work on Nanjing Road saw a neatly dressed man crawling on his hands and knees around CITIC Square, followed by a few of his staff.

　　 Aside from operating others’ games, The9 is working on its own online products. But Zhu sees that as a sideline, saying he would prefer to retain distribution rights to spread the risks.

　　 Zhu stressed that his achievements are based on simple business logic: be swift, respond quickly to changes, aim for steady growth, and never lead the industry.

　　 “It’s that simple,” he said.