Shanda, China's biggest online game service company, announced Wednesday that Microsoft China President Tang Jun will soon take over one of its top posts following his retirement from Microsoft China on Tuesday.

Chen Tianqiao, Shanda's current board chairman, welcomed Tang as Shanda's new president, saying "Tang is an outstanding professional IT manager in China".

"His joining will no doubt bring advanced management concepts and methods of multinationals to Shanda ...I believe Shanda will lead in the new age of interactive entertainment media".

Tang announced his resignation from the world software magnate's fastest growing subsidiary Tuesday. "I'm looking for new challenges ... and I'm confident about my new beginning," he said when asked why he left Microsoft China.

Joining Microsoft in 1994 as a senior Windows NT development manager in the corporation's head office, the 41-year-old Tang was appointed president of Microsoft China in March 2002.

During his two-year tenure, Microsoft China became the only subsidiary under Microsoft to boast a record sales volume for six months in a row (from July 2002 to January 2003) and which posted the fastest sales growth rate among Microsoft's 82 subsidiaries around the globe last year.

Microsoft has decided to award Tang an "honorary president" title as a gesture to recognize his brilliant performance.

"He has made important contributions not only to product development and service support, but also to expanding Microsoft's presence in China," said Tim Chen, Microsoft corporate vice president and CEO of the Great China Region.

"We thank him for his efforts and wish him success in his new field," he said.

Insiders say Chen Tianqiao and Tang will together form a perfect alliance as Tang has long hoped to work in a domestic online game company to play out his strong points in R&D, service and marketing.

The Shanghai-based Shanda, with over 170 million registered online game users in its three-year development, turned over around 800 million yuan (US$96.4 million) in 2003. Acclaimed as king of China's online game service by CNN, it is currently preparing to go public on the US NASDAQ stock market.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2004)