Alibaba Pictures inks pact with Youku to produce variety shows, movies

MAINBOARD-LISTED Alibaba Pictures Group, the entertainment and film unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings (AGH), has signed a variety-show cooperation framework agreement with Youku Information.

Youku's Chinese online video platform is operated by AGH, which is in turn the ultimate sole shareholder of Ali CV Investment, the controlling shareholder of Alibaba Pictures with a 50.27 per cent stake. Youku is hence a connected person of Alibaba Pictures.

The agreement between Youku and Alibaba Pictures lasts from Sept 2, 2020 to March 31, 2023.

Under the pact, both parties may enter into joint investments in variety shows, children's shows and/or movies and dramas, Alibaba Pictures said in a bourse filing late Wednesday.

Among other things, they may also commission the production of the shows, movies and dramas; undertake joint production of such content; procure the copyrights; engage artists; cooperate on advertising services; and distribute TV broadcasting rights.

The combined sum of Alibaba Pictures' total investment amount and its total fees payable to Youku is subject to annual caps for the three financial years ending March 31, under the agreement.

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The caps are fixed at 10 million yuan (S$2 million) for FY2021, at 12 million yuan for FY22, and 18 million yuan for FY2023, it said.

Alibaba Pictures said it believes the collaboration will allow the group to better integrate "high quality" variety shows, children's shows, movies and dramas and related intellectual property (IP) commercialisation with Youku's online platforms.

This will make the content available to more users online, thus strengthening Alibaba Pictures' market competitiveness in content production and IP-integrated development and bringing more business opportunities, the company added.

Youku has a "vast" number of registered users in China, Alibaba Pictures noted.

On the Singapore bourse, shares of dual-listed Alibaba Pictures last traded at HK$0.90 on Wednesday, down HK$0.03 or 3.2 per cent.

The counter is expected to be delisted from the Singapore Exchange on Dec 4.