On the surface, Ali Entertainment no longer serves as a shareholder of Youku and does not directly hold any shares of Youku. However, as can be seen from the equity penetration chart, Shanghai Quantudou Network Technology Co., Ltd., which holds 65,438+000% equity of Youku, is actually held by Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd.. This means that Alibaba Entertainment indirectly holds Youku through Tudou.
Shanghai Quantudou Network Technology Co., Ltd. is a registered company of Tudou, the earliest video sharing website in China, in China. According to the industrial and commercial registration information, Shanghai Quantudou Network Technology Co., Ltd. was established on February 8, 2004, with legal representative Li Wei and registered capital of 70 million yuan. Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd. was established on March 20, 20 17, with legal representative Li Wei and registered capital of 500 million yuan.
As of press time, Alibaba has not yet responded to the above industrial and commercial changes.
Youku has always been the core user engine of Alibaba Entertainment. 20 12 youku tudou merger was officially completed; 2015165438+16 October, Ali announced the acquisition of youku tudou, and the transaction was conducted in cash. On April 6, 20 16, Youku and Tudou were privatized, collectively known as Youku Tudou Co., Ltd., and officially became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba.
In 20 16, Ali launched the grand entertainment plan and established Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Group, which comprehensively integrated the businesses of Youku Tudou, Alibaba Pictures, Ali Music, Ali Sports, UC, Ali Games and Ali Literature and Digital Entertainment Division, forming eight major sections with a huge lineup. Ali CEO Zhang Yong appointed Yu Yongfu as the chairman and CEO of Ali Culture and Entertainment Group (to be established), reporting to Zhang Yong.
Youku Tudou has since become an important member of Ali Entertainment. Yu Yongfu said in an internal letter at that time that Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Group would adopt a "2+X" business matrix, namely "two user platform engines (Dayouku, UC)+ professional columns". One year after the integration, the layout of Ali Entertainment was adjusted to 3+X, in which 3 refers to the big Youku business group, the big UC new mobile business group and the vertical business group, and X corresponds to the auxiliary content ecology, including super drama series, super network synthesis, Ali music, Ali literature, Ali games, Alibaba Pictures and so on.
However, since then, all the lines of Ali Entertainment have been continuously adjusted independently and subtracted. In 20 19, Ali split UC, Ali literature and Ali music, and merged into the innovation business group together with Tmall Elf. Only Youku, Alibaba Pictures, Barley and Interactive Entertainment remain in large entertainment groups. In 2020, the interactive game business has also been upgraded to an independent business group, stripping off big entertainment, and the territory of Ali Entertainment is getting smaller and smaller.
Ali's latest quarterly financial report shows that the revenue of digital media and entertainment business, including Youku, was 8.0865438 billion yuan, compared with 8.066 billion yuan in the same period last year, with almost no growth. The average daily paying users of Youku increased by 14% year-on-year, which was mainly driven by high-quality content and the continuous contribution of the 88VIP membership program.