Longping High-Tech Co, a hybrid rice and corn seed maker in Changsha, last week signed an exclusive license contract with Yuan Longping, a researcher in China known as "the father of hybrid rice". The company announced it would buy Yuan's naming and portraiture rights at 51.5 million yuan ($8.4 million). In 2000, the company paid him 5.8 million yuan for naming the company and its stock after him.

(Source: China Daily)