39-YO Billionaire in China, Lin Qi, Allegedly Poisoned to Death by Colleague Due to Work Dispute

At work, there are times where you’ll get into a workplace dispute with your colleagues.

Sometimes, things fester until you’re forced to leave the company.

Other times, you move on from your grudge because you’re now united against another common enemy.

But sometimes, you die of poison.

Before you think that the last one only happens in movies, it allegedly happened pretty recently in China.

Here’s what happened.

39-YO Billionaire in China, Lin Qi, Allegedly Poisoned to Death by Colleague Due to Work Dispute

On 25 Dec 2020, Christmas Day, 39-year-old Lin Qi died after he was allegedly poisoned by a colleague.

The founder of Yoozoo Games, a fast-rising gaming company in China, Lin was a rising star worth 6.8 billion yuan (S$1.3 billion), according to the Hunan China Rich List.

The Shanghai police released a statement revealing that Lin has been hospitalised since 16 Dec 2020 after a suspected murder attempt by a co-worker.

Work Dispute With Yoozoo’s Movie Production Arm Head

According to local reports, Lin could’ve been involved in a work dispute with Xu Yao, who heads a movie production arm of Yoozoo.

China Economic Weekly reported that Lin could’ve been poisoned via medication and added that Lin had slashed Xu’s pay in an attempt to get him to leave the company.

A man surnamed Xu, believed to be Xu Yao, is currently in police custody, assisting in the investigation.

It was further reported that Lin was working with a movie production arm of Yoozoo on the film adaptation of popular sci-fi series, Three-Body Problem, for Netflix before he died.

Following his death, Yoozoo Games’ announcement of its founder’s death had more than 290 million views on Weibo, and thousands flocked together to express their condolences for the tragic event.

Many of the tributes also feature calligraphy, a nod to the man who was known to be into calligraphy and poetry.

Staff and ex-employees also gathered outside Yoozoo’s Shanghai office to mourn his death.

An unidentified ex-employee said that Lin was the “heart and soul of Yoozoo”.

Featured Image: Yoozoo