Profile of Zhu Jun– From the World of Warcraft to Liverpool?

The Independent has revealed that a multi-millionaire Chinese internet gaming tycoon Zhu Jun has been in talks about the possibility of buying Liverpool Football Club. Apparently there has been no bid made as yet but sources in China have described Zhu as being “sincerely interested” in a deal. The paper was keen to point out that Zhu was only one of dozens contacted by Barclays Capital across the world but that the Chinese businessman has had two exploratory meetings in Hong Kong and Shanghai with Barclays over recent months. The price of £800m could be troublesome but Zhu believes he may be able to finance a deal at a “decent price” if he can get a consortium together with other Chinese businessmen. A spokesman for Zhu Jun, Zhou Liang, told Reuters today:

“I cannot tell you any information at this moment. (The report) was information from the English side. Information moves very fast but there are some entities that need vehicles to travel. It is a long way between England and China. It takes time to travel. These entities need to go either by air or by sea. They are on their way. As soon as they arrive in China, we will let you know.”

So if Nick Harris’s report in the Independent is accurate, who is this prospective buyer of Liverpool Zhu Jun? A graduate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhu made his way in the business world with a trading company called QJ Investments in the United States. After his departure from the company in 1997 he co-founded and served as a director of a IT business called Flagholder New Technology before setting up his current company The9 Ltd in 1999. The9 is now the third largest online game operator and developer in China, and Zhu has been the company’s chairman and chief executive since its inception

The company has made its fortune by attaining exclusive licences to both Western and Chinese MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) for the region of China, including the incredibly successful World of Warcraft, as well as Guild Wars, Hellgate: London, Huxley and FIFA Online 2. The company also develops its own games for the Chinese market. In 2004, The9 was floated on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in the US, pocketing Zhu a quite tidy sum of £60m when the stocks of the company rose.

Zhu’s interests are not restricted to the realms of computer gaming though as he is a big follower of football. He bought Chinese team Shanghai United in 2006 but there is some controversy about his involvement in the sport. In 2007, he bought a majority share in United’s city rivals Chinese Superleague side Shanghai Shenhua and proceeded to force a merger between the two teams. After the formation of the new team, Zhu’s first act was to replace Shenhua’s first team coach Wu Jingui with United’s former head coach Osvaldo Gimenez.

The move proved to be highly controversial and Jingui was brought back as head coach after only a few months. Gimenez has subsequently become the first foreign Chief Executive of a Chinese football team when he was appointed by Zhu at Shenhua in January last year. Another interesting fact is that Zhu has actually played against Liverpool. In a pre-season friendly in Holland back in 2007, Zhu used a pseudonym to appear for five minutes for Shanghai Shenhua against the Reds.

The 44 year old then is certainly an interesting character but according to the Independent he may only be the head of a consortium, along with a few other owners of Chinese Superleague football teams.

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