Chinese MMO operator Shanda to complete $740M stock buyback

Newsbrief: Shareholders of Shanda Interactive Entertainment have approved a proposal by CEO Tianqiao Chen and his family to take over the Chinese MMO operator with a stock buyback deal worth $740 million. With this agreement, Chen and members of his family (who are also executives at the company) will pay $41.35 per share for the 32 percent of shares they didn't already own, in order to make the company private, according to The New York Times. The proposal is a 24 percent premium of the Shanghai-based company's trading price when the family made the offer in October, and values Shanda at around $2.3 billion. Chen has not explained his reasons for taking the company private. The offer was approved by the Board of Directors in a November meeting. Shareholder approval has now finalized the deal to bring Shanda private. Shanda operates a number of MMOs in China, including localized versions of AION, MapleStory, Ragnarok Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online.