By Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The chief executive officer and co-founder of Shanghai-based Chinese gaming firm XD Inc plans to leave China next year, according to an internal notice seen by Reuters, citing family reasons and rising gaming opportunities overseas.
Huang Yimeng, 40, who was ranked last year by Forbes to be worth $1.2 billion, said he was making preparations to move abroad “after the next summer break”, without disclosing the destination.
His announcement, which XD confirmed and said primarily stemmed from family reasons, comes however as a bruising crackdown by Beijing on the gaming industry prompts many local firms to look abroad and China’s zero-COVID policy, which gave rise to a two-month-long lockdown in Shanghai, drives an emigration wave.
XD, which Huang co-founded in 2009, made a name for itself in China as a publisher of small independent games and was among the first companies to receive an license earlier this year after Beijing lifted a nearly nine-month freeze on gaming approvals.
“I personally place equal priority on career and family, and in the future our company’s overseas operations will count for a higher proportion,” he said in the memo, adding that his vision was for XD to become a global company.
While he did not mention Beijing’s regulatory policies or Shanghai’s lockdown, which he lived through, he said he hoped China’s epidemic policy could relax.
“The ideal situation is that our domestic COVID policies can be more relaxed a year from now, and international relations can be more calm and open, in which case we all can frequently move about depending on the needs of our work and life,” he said in the memo.
He declined to comment further when reached by Reuters and referred to the company’s statement.
Huang would frequently travel between China and overseas and that his plan was unrelated to the company’s current situation and future outlook, XD said, adding that his position will remain unchanged.
(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Brenda Goh and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
