China-based games and AI company Kunlun Wanwei (SZSE: 300418) is selling 99% of Beijing Xianlai Huyu to Beijing Xinglan Huyu for $111.2m (RMB 750m), thereby exiting the mobile card-and-board games publishing business entirely. The business being sold is F2P digital mahjong and card games, not real-money gaming (which is prohibited in mainland China).
The buyer was incorporated in Apr’26 and is wholly owned by Xiong Liang, who joined Xianlai Huyu as general manager in 2024 and is now its chairman and legal representative, making this a management buyout. He picked up the remaining 1% in Mar’26 and will hold 100% on completion. Kunlun collects half the price, $55.6m (RMB 375m), by Sep 30, 2026, and the rest in three annual installments of $18.5m (RMB 125m).
Kunlun built up full ownership of Xianlai Huyu through three purchases between 2016 and 2019 (deal terms below), and is now exiting the entire business for about 80% less than what it paid. The reason is straightforward: the business’s own profitability collapsed over the same period, from $174m in net profit in 2018 to just $10.0m by 2025, as revenue fell 80%.
Kunlun Wanwei states the rationale as a strategic focus: the business has “a relatively independent operating system” that differs from the AGI and AIGC (artificial general intelligence and AI-generated content) direction it is now built around. The same board meeting approved a plan to issue H shares and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s main board.
