Chairman of Duoyi Network Reveals Former CEO’s Corruption

Duoyi Network, a Chinese online gaming enterprise, on Thursday published an article written by its chairman Xu Bo, accusing former CEO Tang Yilu of corruption.

To conceal the fact that Tang’s group charged advertisement fees based on a false number of registered users, Tang allegedly sheltered and connived plug-ins, causing the company to suffer huge losses and bringing great harm to players, Duoyi said in the statement. The company promised it would investigate the case thoroughly.

Duoyi Network, founded by Xu Bo in 2006, is one of the major local gaming companies based in Guangzhou. Its self-developed games, like the “Shenwu” and “Dream World” series, have garnered over 10 million players.

The article explains that because Xu specialized in game research and development and was not familiar with business management in the firm’s early days, he appointed Tang, a former grassroots salesperson at a game company, as the new market leader of Duoyi. Later, the core personnel who worked with Xu Bo were also not familiar with areas such as finance, marketing and public relations. Therefore, Tang was appointed as CEO of the company.

Xu said that during Tang’s tenure as CEO, Tang and her group often violated the prohibition of alcohol in the firm and embezzled hundreds of millions in advertising fees every year. Furthermore, Tang’s misconduct led to Duoyi hardly dealing with plug-ins for many years. Xu said that he began to investigate Tang’s corruption after discovering abnormal data. Tang herself left the company the next day after being accused of the misconduct.

Other employees suspected of corruption in Duoyi Network are also under investigation, such as the former head of administration and human resources Ma Xingjia, the former public relations officer Yan Haibing and others.

Duoyi Network has failed multiple times in its attempt to complete an initial public offering (IPO). The most recent incident occurred in June 2018, when the company submitted an IPO prospectus to the HKEx, sponsored by CITIC Lyon. Eventually, it announced the termination of the IPO attempt in January 2019. It is also worth noting that Netease previously filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Duoyi, claiming that “Shenwu” infringed its copyright and constituted unfair competition.

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