Alibaba Pictures Group is to pay its parent Alibaba $520 million to buy two of its film-related businesses, Yulebao and Taobao Movie.
Taobao Movies is one of China’s top online ticketing services, while Yulebao is a Chinese platform equivalent of crowdfunding that allows consumers and fans to invest in movie productions, TV dramas and variety shows. It has already gone through several funding rounds. Both companies were launched in 2014.
The transfer was foreshadowed several months ago when Alibaba said that it was considering a shift of the movie related assets into the separately-listed APG.
There was no commentary on whether Yukou Tudou, the streaming video platform that Alibaba is intending to take private, might also eventually be transferred to APG control.
"By integrating Taobao Movie and Yulebao into Alibaba Pictures, we will develop an innovative business model that encapsulates the entire industry value chain – beginning with the production of content demanded by users, letting users fund those projects, marketing and distribution as well as a cinema services platform,” said APG CEO Zhang Qiang.
It said Taobao Movies’ position in the value chain will complement APG’s existing businesses by adding online promotion and distribution capabilities, and generating data on consumer preferences.
"The acquisition will advance Alibaba Pictures’ strategic vision of creating an innovative, integrated online and offline value chain to provide demand driven entertainment experience for customers. The user base on Taobao Movie’s robust ticketing platform and the innovative Yulebao business will complement and strengthen Alibaba Pictures’ core competence,” APG said by way explanation.