Alibaba Pictures Group has unveiled a new $300 million investment fund targeting the entertainment industry. Alibaba Pictures, the film studio unit of Jack Ma's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is partnering with Wuhu Gopher Asset Management on the fund, which will be called the Hainan Alibaba Pictures Entertainment Industry Investment Fund. In a statement released Monday, the two partners said they would make "investments in companies along the value chain of the movie and television entertainment industry, creating synergies with Alibaba Pictures’ own capital." Alibaba Pictures will contribute a maximum of $75 million to the fund, with the remaining $225 million coming from Wuhu Gopher. The partners said the fund will focus on investment opportunities in high-quality film and TV companies falling under four key categories: "production development, celebrity resources, marketing and distribution and advanced technology." The partners did not specify whether the fund would exclusively target Chinese investments, or if international films and firms might be on its hit list.
“In recent years, the Chinese entertainment industry, which has mainly been driven by movies, has undergone rapid development," said Zhang Qiang, CEO of Alibaba Pictures. "Bountiful investment opportunities and immense room for integration have emerged both upstream and downstream of the industry value chain.” Alibaba Pictures, which is listed on both the Singapore and Hong Kong stock exchanges, describes its core business segments as content production, Internet-based promotion and distribution, entertainment e-commerce and international operations. The studio has yet to release a film of its own, but it has three Chinese projects in varying stages of production: Ferry Man, Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom and Ao Jiao Yu Pian Jian. It has also invested in high-profile Hollywood projects, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Star Trek Beyond and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Alibaba Pictures is also moving into U.S.-China co-productions with a partnership with Skydance Media to finance and co-produce the WWII film Flying Tigers, which will be scripted by Braveheart writer Randall Wallace.
Dublin, 6 December 2016—Showtime Analytics (“Showtime”), an Irish start-up that provides data analytics products and services to the global cinema industry, has secured investment from a subsidiary of Chinese corporation Alibaba Pictures Group, Yueke/Finixx. This funding represents Finixx first ever investment outside China. Showtime provides cutting-edge products and services to cinema owners and film distributors, allowing them to collate, analyse and visualise their operational data in real time to deliver insights that drive improved business performance. The joint venture will see Showtime and Finixx collaborate to develop products specific to the Chinese cinema industry. The Ireland-based company was founded in 2014 by Richie Power, Joe Spurling and Paul Lynch. Today it employs 30 full time staff. Co-founder Joe Spurling has a life long association with the cinema industry. His family co-own and manage Movies@ cinema group in Ireland. Alibaba Pictures, valued at $9.6 billion, is a technology-driven, diversified film group that ranges from production investment through to distribution and ticketing.
Finixx, acquired by Alibaba Pictures Group in 2015, provides software systems for more than 2,000 theatres and more than 30 third online movie-ticketing platforms. Earlier this year Alibaba Pictures acquired a stake in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. It has previously invested in major Hollywood blockbusters, including Star Trek Beyond and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. By the end of this year, China is expected to overtake the United States as the world’s largest movie market. The country has now approximately 7,000 cinema screens and is building approximately 27 new cinema screens per day in 2016. Speaking at the announcement of the investment, Showtime CEO Richie Power said: “This investment only marks the beginning of Showtime’s global journey. Ultimately, our business is about more than just helping cinemas sell more tickets. Data analysis is in its infancy in the movie industry, but its potential value is huge. “In recent years, video-on-demand has stolen a significant march on the cinema industry as the likes of Netflix knows more about its customers and they are using this to their advantage.
We want to help cinema owners and film distributors to unlock the potential of their data and help them understand more about the types of films being made, how they’re being made and marketed, and how audiences are responding to them. “Alibaba Pictures is a market leader in the Chinese movie industry and understands the needs of cinema-goers and other industry stakeholders. This knowledge, coupled with their investment, will prove invaluable to Showtime, allowing us to build even better products and expand our team in Ireland.” Li Xiangxiong, General Manager at Yueke/Finixx, said: “Finixx’ first international partnership with Showtime Analytics opens up an exciting new frontier for us. The Chinese movie industry is growing from strength to strength. For this momentum to continue, we must invest in innovative new technologies. In Showtime, we have found an important strategic partner in the Irish tech industry that shares our passion and ambition for cinema, and we look forward to building on our new relationship in the years ahead.”
The New York Times Book Review - James LedbetterThe access [Clark] got to the company pushes his breezy account more toward the business than to Ma's personality. Still, Ma emerges as an unpretentious, self-deprecating leader, fond of quoting martial arts novels and Forrest Gump. Yet he is clearly also shrewd and extremely driven. “A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the present China and the heartbeat of a great entrepreneur.” “This book provides excellent insight into the world of Jack Ma... Duncan Clark is a real China ‘Old Hand,’ unique in his knowledge of the Jack Ma generation. This book is definitely in the short list for those who wish to understand the Chinese economy today.” 03/15/2016Alibaba became famous in the United States in 2014 when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and became the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. In China, the company has radically changed the way people shop and even created a national shopping holiday that surpassed Black Friday in sales.
This book concentrates on the unique character and ambition of founder Jack Ma, while simultaneously chronicling the development of Alibaba from an apartment where you "could count the number of cofounders…by the toothbrushes jammed into mugs on a shelf in the bathroom," to the multibillion dollar corporation that has transformed life in China. As an advisor to Alibaba in the early years, Clark (chairman, investment advisory firm BDA China) is qualified to provide riveting stories about Ma, including his becoming a Tai Chi master to his role in boardroom spats. The study will appeal to those interested in business, China, ecommerce, and readers who are curious about the vibrant personality behind one of the world's greatest success stories. VERDICT This absorbing and well-written portrayal of Ma's character, and his role in Alibaba's development will appeal to a wide range of readers. [See Prepub Alert, 10/19/15.]—Casey Watters, Singapore Management Univ. 2016-02-16A study of the multibillion-dollar Chinese e-commerce conglomerate and its charismatic founder.
Technology and financial expert Clark astutely profiles Jack Ma, the 51-year-old entrepreneur behind Alibaba, "the Amazon of China" that has become the world's largest online shopping mall. Having met Ma in 1999, the author recalls the former English lecturer's remarkably ambitious spirit and his intentions to overthrow the giants of Silicon Valley with the development of an unrivaled Internet-based business. Ma was backed by only a small handful of co-founders (his wife included), but the author pitched in and became an adviser to Alibaba in its infancy as it developed and gained a competitive edge through what Ma calls the "iron triangle" business plan: e-commerce, logistics, and finance, all of which Clark outlines in lucid detail. Further embellishing his portrait, the author also draws on his 20-year tenure living and working in China, and he shows the great impact of the multifaceted online experience on the country's financial and cultural climates. Clark cites the 2008 global financial crisis as the tipping point when China's economic focus turned inward to boost its own economy instead of primarily exporting goods overseas.
Alibaba took the lead, launching itself with an online payment system and a host of subsidiary sites, which attracted small businesses to sell merchandise through their Web portals with no fees. Noting that the company remains governed by a "customer first, employees second, and shareholders third" philosophy, Clark contrasts Alibaba's camaraderie-centered campus culture, including employee incentives and commitment awards, with its initial struggle to find startup investors and earn commercial credibility. The author frequently highlights Ma's quirky, often contrarian personality and risk-taking management style. A particularly vigorous chapter on the struggle between Alibaba and e-commerce titans eBay and Yahoo for profitability and marketplace saturation in China dramatically demonstrates the volatility and competitiveness between businesses seeking to harness Internet consumerism. Useful, business-minded reporting on an unconventional corporate magnate, containing both corporate and human-interest perspectives.