Shanghai police say they have arrested a suspect in the death of the billionaire founder of a Chinese video game company that makes films based on the popular science fiction novel “The Three-Body Problem.” Lin Qi, 39, died on Christmas Day after being hospitalized, according to his company, Yoozoo Games Co., aka Youzu Interactive.
A police statement said a 39-year-old colleague, identified only by the surname Xu, was detained. The statement said the victim had been hospitalized on Dec. 17 and was diagnosed with possible poisoning, but gave no other details. The Hollywood Reporter, referring to local media, reported that Lin was reportedly sick from a cup of poisoned pu-erh tea.
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An employee who answered the phone at the Shanghai police news agency on Monday said there was no additional information to disclose.
The business magazine Caixin, citing unidentified industry sources, said the suspect is an employee of Yoozoo’s film division and was working on “The Three-Body Problem”. That novel is currently being adapted as a Netflix series produced by “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and DB Weiss. Lin is listed as an executive producer on the series.
Yoozoo is also known for his game “Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming.”
Lin was ranked 870 among China’s richest entrepreneurs with a net worth of 6.8 billion yuan ($ 1 billion), according to Hurun Report, which tracks China’s wealthy.