Studio heads are anticipating an influx of investment dollars from Asia, thanks to the Chinese e-commerce giant, which is poised to pull off the biggest public stock sale in history on Thursday.
Japan’s Softbank — which owns more than a third Alibaba Group Holdings and is sitting on a large pile of cash as a result — has been visiting the bamboo-decorated executive suites of film studios with an eye toward winning a role in the movie business, sources said.
"The Japanese have started to take an interest,” said one source. “They’ve talked to Jeffrey Katzenberg’s DreamWorks Animation.”
Softbank has held early stage talks with at least three other studios, Relativity, Lionsgate and Legendary Entertainment, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
A spokeswoman for DreamWorks said the firm couldn’t comment on speculation. Relativity and Legendary declined to comment, while Lionsgate didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A major player in Japan’s mobile market, Softbank also owns 70 percent of No. 3 wireless player Sprint. The company is hunting for content partnerships that can strengthen Sprint against larger rivals Verizon and AT&T.
At the same time, Softbank, run by Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son, is talking to Alibaba about how they might jointly approach Hollywood from both an investment and content acquisition standpoint.
Alibaba’s Ma is interested in creating the “Netflix of China” by acquiring streaming rights to shows and films, in particular in geographic territories where Netflix doesn’t have much of a foothold, said one person familiar with talks. "Softbank and Alibaba are both looking at investing,” said a top Hollywood executive. “They are getting aggressive.”
Son’s $20 million investment in Ma’s Alibaba has turned into $55 billion windfall just a decade and a half later. Given their lucrative history, it makes sense for them to pursue investment opportunities.
"Mashayoshi Son and Jack Ma haven’t engaged [directly] yet, but the two companies are trying to get smart,” said a source.
Clearly, Softbank has money to burn — and the movie business can easily help spend it.
"Hollywood has a way of sniffing out the dumb money,” said one source.