Alibaba has paid more than $800m for a majority stake in Hong Kong-listed ChinaVision Media Group.
The ChinaVision deal will address what analysts say is Alibaba’s competitive disadvantage in video entertainment, where it lags behind both Baidu and Tencent. China’s online video scene is already the biggest in the world, with more than 400m viewers and hundreds of millions more set to join as superfast 4G connections become more popular.
Buying ChinaVision gives Alibaba access to its television dramas, films, and mobile games. ChinaVision scored a hit last year with Journey to the West, a Stephen Chow comedy that took in $92.5m during its Chinese new year opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.
Original content could bolster Alibaba’s smart TV operating system, which it launched in July 2013. Last year Alibaba also bought music streaming site Xiami.
Founded in 2004, Chinavasion.com was the first ever Internet/Ecommerce-only wholesaler to ship direct from China, to Business (B2B) customers worldwide. We are the biggest existing wholesale provider of hi-tech gadgets and consumer electronics products from the China market. Our service office and warehouse are in Shenzhen. Shenzhen is one of the world’s fastest growing (and most densely populated!) cities, and is a huge electronics manufacturing hub including the top factories that make Apple, Samsung, Sony, HTC and other big-brand products. Situated in China’s Guangdong Province right next to Hong Kong, Shenzhen is the ideal place both for product choice and low-cost international logistics/freight solutions.
Source: Financial Times
