Yao Ming, one of the most well-known Chinese NBA basketball players, announced his retirement on this Wednesday. It’s a sad moment for his fans in both U.S. and China; it’s the ending of the NBA version of Yao dynasty. However, Yao is set to write a new chapter in his dynasty – to become an investor.
On the heels of the retirement announcement, anonymous source suggesting Top100.cn, a Chinese copyrighted music streaming and download service, has acquired online streaming service 1ting.com in an aim to rebrand themselves as “Chinese Pandora” and seek for an IPO.
Top100 has just announced raising US$ 20 million in a series B funding led by CMC(CHINA MEDIA CAPITAL), Yao participated in this second-round financing.
Founded in 2005 with Yao Ming and his agent’s seed fund of US$ 3 million dollars, Top100 is also Google China’s music service partner. It is said that Top100 bought 1ting for US$ 10 million, after the acquisition, Top100 will be the largest copyrighted music service in China.
Yao is poised to make a fortune from his investment in Top100 if the site goes public. And on top of this, Yao also invested in GPS devices vendor UniStrong, after he acted as its commercial spokesman.
Except for IT area, Yao also tapped into many other territories, including acquiring Shanghai Sharks, setting up joint venture of gym in Beijing and Shanghai, invested in a restaurant in the U.S..
