Alibaba purchases 8% stake in streaming platform Bilibili

Alibaba Group’s ecommerce unit Taobao has bought an 8% stake in Bilibili, a leading Chinese video streaming platform, according to Xinhua.

Bilibili listed on the NASDAQ in March 2018, having launched in 2009 and subsequently grown to become one of China’s largest video sharing platforms.

"I believe our cooperation can further unleash Bilibili's commercial potential,” said Jiang Fan, vice president of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao, according to Xinhua. “I hope our collaboration will bring the creativity of the young Chinese to the world."

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“We can now leverage Taobao’s gigantic platform and seasoned ecommerce operating capabilities to further help our content creators realize and improve their commercial values, thereby building a more virtuous content community and commercialization-focused ecosystem,” said Chen Rui, Chairman and CEO of Bilibili, according to TechCrunch.

Taobao currently enjoys a userbase comprising 700mn monthly users, while Bilibili currently has 93mn according to an investor presentation from last November.

Details regarding the value of the transaction have not yet been disclosed.