Alibaba Group announced plans Monday to invest 75 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in online video site Youku Tudou. The investment will give Alibaba a 16.5 percent stake in the company while partner Yunfeng Capital will take a two percent stake. Jonathan Lu Zhaoxi, CEO of Alibaba, will join Youku Tudou's board of directors.
Alibaba's founder and chairman and co-founder of Yufeng Capital, Jack Ma, said that the move will accelerate digital entertainment services and video content strategy, increasing services for customers.
Victor Koo, chairman and CEO of Youku Tudou, added, "the deal will help Youku Tudou build a cultural entertainment platform that integrates online and offline entertainment".
Alibaba Group is comprised of internet-based e-commerce businesses including business-to-business online web portals, online retail and payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services, and is a force to be reckoned with. In 2012, Taobao and Tmall made over one trillion yuan (US$170 billion in sales) alone, more than competitors eBay and Amazon combined.
The move comes at a time when online firms are having to shift strategies to deal with an increasing number of individuals accessing the web through mobile devices such as smartphones.
0 User Comments