Zhejiang Huanyu and The9 Establish Joint Venture and Signed Non-Exclusive Agreement to Operate New MIR Game with Annual Revenue Commitment of RMB600 Million, Profit Commitment of RMB200 Million and Annual Increase of 30%
SHANGHAI, Aug. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The9 Limited (NASDAQ:NCTY) ("The9"), an established Internet company, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Shanghai The9 Information Technology Co., Ltd. signed a joint venture agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement") with Zhejiang Huanyu Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huanyu"), a Chinese game development and operation company. The Joint Venture will become one of The9's consolidated subsidiaries to operate the mobile and PC versions of the new MIR game: MIR M, in which The9 holds a 51% stake and Huanyu holds a 49% stake.
Pursuant to the Agreement, Huanyu promised to guide its existing MIR and related game users to the Joint Venture to ensure the smooth operation of MIR M by the Joint Venture. All after-tax profits of the Joint Venture will be distributed as dividends every quarter according to the shareholding ratio of the Joint Venture partners. Huanyu committed that the Joint Venture will have a game revenue of at least RMB600 million (approximately US$84 million) and a profit of RMB200 million (approximately US$28 million) in 2025, and that the game revenue and profit will increase by at least 30% annually in 2026 and 2027.
The9 promised to grant Huanyu The9 restricted shares. The amount will be RMB 98 million / US dollar to RMB exchange rate on the date of issuance / NCTY share price on the date of issuance. The shares will be issued 5 working days after the Joint Venture submits all relevant materials for applying for the Internet Content Provider license to the local government and obtains an application receipt. These restricted shares will be unlocked in stages according to Huanyu's commitment to the Joint Venture's 2025 business results. If the 2025 business results commitment is achieved, The9 will grant Huanyu the second batch of restricted shares according to this mechanism. If the 2026 business results commitment is achieved, The9 will grant Huanyu the third batch of restricted shares according to this mechanism.
Zhu Jun, Chairman and CEO of The9, said: "MIR is a benchmark product in the history of Chinese online games. According to unofficial statistics, MIR games have annual revenue of more than RMB20 billion.
1. Thanks to all MIR games operators for their best efforts in the past 10 years to keep MIR players in the MIR ecosystem;
2. MIR M is different from all the other MIR games on the market. It uses Unreal Engine 4 to create and present top-level graphics, and upgrade traditional MIR games;
3. As Father of MIR, Wemade is well aware of the truth that Chinese games should be made in China. Wemade has formed a very experienced Chinese game development team. They conducted in-depth research and understand the preferences of Chinese MIR players. After about 2 years of dedicated creation, they have created the ultimate MIR;
4. As the exclusive licensee of MIR M in China, The9 is well aware that the key to MIR M success lies in the operators of MIR in the market and the MIR fan groups they control. I believe that the new generation of MIR and our originally created game marketing strategy will make the influence of MIR IP in China even higher;
5. Our total sales target for MIR M in 2025 is RMB2 billion. We will continue to work with different game operating companies to attract MIR type game users to MIR M using this most effective way. The revenue commitment of RMB600 million in the agreement with Huanyu is just the beginning..."
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About The9 Limited
The9 Limited (The9) is an Internet company listed on Nasdaq in 2004. The9 is committed to become a global diversified high-tech Internet company, and is engaged in online games operation, Bitcoin mining and AI investment businesses in different industries.
About Zhejiang Huanyu Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Zhejiang Huanyu Network Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese game development and operation company, mainly operating MIR and related games. The Group has more than 500 employees, more than 18 million game users, and more than 3.5 million paying users. The cumulative user payment amount exceeded RMB 1.7 billion.
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