Game Operator Giant Interactive to Issue US IPO in November

Chinese game company Giant Interactive (formerly Zhengtu Networks) filed its registration statement with the SEC to launch its IPO in November 2007. According to the filing, the company will issue over 54 million, or 20% of the company’s equity for the offering. For the year ended December 31, 2006 and the six months ended June 30, 2007, the company's net revenues were RMB408.5 million (US$53.7 million) and RMB687.4 million (US$90.3 million), respectively. Its net income for the same periods was RMB244.6 million (US$32.1 million) and RMB512.3 million (US$67.3 million), respectively. ZT Online had had 888,146 quarterly peak concurrent users and 481,054 quarterly average concurrent users for the quarter ended September 30, 2007

The company currently operates one MMORPG Zhengtu Online and has Giant Online under beta testing. In addition, the company acquired IP rights to Taiwanese MMORPG King of Kings III, which is scheduled to launch in 2008. Pearl Research has written an extensive competitive analysis of Zhengtu covering its key success factors, which is available to readers.