Alibaba Group to Invest $200 Million in China Business News
Alibaba Group Holdings Limited is getting ready to reveal plans of investing $200 million in a bid to create a financial data company with China Business News. Recently, the e-commerce company, which is based in Hangzhou, announced that it intends to launch a financial data service for local governments all over China, to enable them to easily find stats related to e-commerce.
According to a report that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Alibaba plans to acquire 30 percent of Chinese Business News, a financial newspaper and television company that belongs to the Shanghai Media Group. The two partners plan to create a financial data firm that can utilize Alibaba’s large database of finance stats. In addition, plans are afoot to develop an incubator for the benefit of media startups.
China Business News CEO Qin Shuo plans to step down after the agreement is signed. Zhou Jiangong, the chief editor of the Chinese edition of Forbes, will replace him. The anticipated deal has raised the value of Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media Co, which owns a small part of China Business News, by 10 percent.
Last year, Alibaba invested a lot of money in various entertainment and media firms. According to a report by ValueWalk, the firm acquired 8.8% of Enlight Media, a prominent television and film company. In January 2014, Alibaba obtained a major share of AdChina, a Shanghai-based digital marketing company.
In 2014, the company acquired most of China Vision Media Group Limited, enabling it to launch Alibaba Pictures, which then acquired a firm producing movie ticketing software for US$134 million.
Alibaba also invested US$387 million in Beijing Enlight Media, a producer of TV programs. According to the deal signed between Enlight and Alibaba, the latter promised to collaborate with Enlight in the creation of a new movie-making model by blending online and financial operations with traditional media.
Shanghai Media Group and Alibaba announced in November 2014 that they will partner in business news and financial services.
In a bid to make investors out of shoppers, Alibaba has begun displaying stock charts and quotes on Alipay, an online payment processor similar to PayPal. The company has plans to display financial news and other finance-related information.
Ant Financial, a financial services firm belonging to Alibaba, announced its intention of launching the first stock index of its kind in China. Called the CSI Taojin Big Data 100 Index, the service will track e-commerce shares.
