Shanda's biggest hit came from South Korea. Shanda licensed The Legend of Mir II and ran it in China, where it became the country's most popular online game. Players logged on by the thousands from crowded internet cafes and paid for time in a fantasy world. When Shanda filed to sell shares in America in 2004, China's online game market was young and growing fast. Shanda bet it could own that market.

Brothers in Shanghai

Tianqiao Chen and his brother Danian started the business in Shanghai in December 1999. Chen's wife, Chrissy Luo, was also a founder. The turn came in November 2001, when they launched Mir II, a game licensed from Korea. Its success drew a venture investment from a SoftBank fund in 2003. By then Shanda had also released The World of Legend, the first online game it built itself.

Eleven Dollars, Then Four Times That

Shanda sold American depositary shares at $11 each in May 2004, on Nasdaq under the ticker SNDA. Within months the stock had roughly quadrupled, and Tianqiao Chen became one of the richest people in China. The company kept buying games and studios. In February 2012 shareholders approved a buyout by the three founders, who paid about $740 million for the quarter of the company they did not already own.

Cover: The Young Yoshitsune defeats Benkei at Gojo Bridge, Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a legendary duel on a bridge (The Legend of Mir).