Tencent has confirmed its long-rumored merger of Cloudary, the online publishing business of Shanda. Tencent thus will become the biggest online book publisher in China, as Cloudary owns the largest publishing sites, and Tencent has its own huge user base. Readers can either buy finished works or subscribe to chapter releases on digital publishing sites. The company would acquire or invest in further online publishing sites and publishing companies, such as tingbook.com (audiobooks), zubuent.com (multi-media content), Huawentianxia (print book publishing) and Zhongzhibowen (book publishing and rights licensing). It’s unknown whether the Chinese e-commerce giant has given up on digital book publishing altogether or if it will come up with a different model.