Xu Leilei, CEO of Sunshine Media, the content licensing and distribution subsidiary of Chinese internet company Shanda Interactive, confirmed today that she had returned to serve as CEO of the company last October following her April 2011 departure.

"We have bought back the majority of the shares held by Shanda," Xu said, "and Sunshine Media's founders now own a share of the company giving them absolute control."

Xu declined to reveal details of the buyback deal, but an industry source said that all of Shanda's shares in Sunshine Media had been repurchased, ending Shanda Interactive's relationship with the company. According to the source, Xu had sold off her villa and asked some of the founders of Sunshine Media to return in order to buy back the company.

Shanda made major changes to Sunshine Media management over the past year. Xu left the company in April 2011, and was followed by nearly all of the team originally responsible for Sunshine Media's programming, procurement, administration, and distribution efforts.

Now that Sunshine Media is out from under Shanda's control, Xu said, the company's focus for the rest of the year "will still be on the integration and operation of digital rights and related promotional resources."