NEWSMAKER-China web tycoon thrives on portals, pig farms

* NetEase founder William Ding one of China's web celebrities

* Billionaire finds solace in pig farming

* Concerned as company caught up in government turf war

By Melanie Lee

BEIJING, Nov 6 (Reuters) - He may be a billionaire, but soft-spoken William Ding, founder of Chinese online gaming giant NetEase.COM (NTES.O), feels as comfortable on the farm with his pigs as he does in the boardroom.

The publicity shy 38-year-old juggles his time between China's No. 3 online game operator and a pig rearing business he started in February, in search of balance and quiet as the nation's raucous online community develops at breakneck speed.

The bespectacled bachelor, China's 23rd richest man worth $2.25 billion according to Forbes, was one of China's earliest Internet pioneers when he founded NetEase in 1997 as a tiny search engine.

More than a decade and several controversies later, NetEase is one of China's most prominent names on the web and Ding has acquired celebrity status in China, pursued everywhere like a rock star by packs of reporters and admirers.

"Ding has encouraged a whole generation of young people to want to enter the Internet business," said Internet entrepreneur Edward Liu, who, along with Ding, attended one of China's biggest Internet conferences this week in Beijing.

"They all want to be like him."

Ding belongs to an elite group of Chinese mavericks who have made billions on the Internet in China, the world's largest market with over 300 million users. He sits alongside others like Jack Ma, head of Internet giant Alibaba Group and Robin Li, founder of online search leader Baidu (BIDU.O).

Born in China's Zhejiang province, which churns out some of the country's most famous entrepreneurs, Ding was schooled as an engineer and worked for several companies including Sybase (SY.N) before founding NetEase.

The company lost its No.2 status in China's online game sector to up-and-comer Tencent (0700.HK) in the second quarter.

Ding, whose Chinese name means "solid" or "sturdy", has needed those qualities to weather a non-stop stream of controversies in China's rough-and-tumble Internet market.

Early on, NetEase faced the possibility of delisting after it failed to turn in its annual report. It also saw its shares plunge in late 2003 as China embarked on a campaign to clean up pornographic mobile content.

More recently, NetEase has been caught in the crossfire of a government turf war that has threatened to put the brakes on one of its most promising new gaming titles, World of Warcraft. [ID:nN02450107]