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Business News Deals Digital
Alibaba’s bid to buy YouTube of China gets board approval
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 9 November 2015
The board of Youku Tudou – a Chinese video website often dubbed “China’s YouTube” – have unanimously approved a takeover bid from Chinese web giant Alibaba. The deal values the video site at about $4.4 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Alibaba first announced its interest in acquiring the online video firm – of which it already controlled about a fifth – last month. Last week it increased its offer price, from $26.60 to $27.60 a share, which secured the backing of Youku Tudou’s directors.
The final offer is a 13% premium on the video site’s share price as of last Thursday, and a 35.1% premium on the share price before Alibaba first revealed its intent to take complete ownership of the online video business.
The acquisition is seen as Alibaba’s latest attempt to expand its interests in content and entertainment, following the lead of global rivals like Google and Amazon. It remains to be seen if the music channel on Youku Tudou will tie up with the Ali Music Group which Alibaba launched earlier this year to bring together the firm’s music services.
