LeTV, Tudou to set up JV to buy movies, soap operas

Updated: 2011-10-19 13:06

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING -- Leading Chinese online video portals, LeTV.com and Tudou.com, said Tuesday they will launch a copyright-purchase joint venture and forge an alliance to share video clips.

LeTV.com, or China's Hulu equivalent, is investing 510,000 yuan ($79, 914) while Tudou.com, a Youtube-like video sharing website, is injecting 490,000 yuan to set up a joint venture specialized in buying domestic movies and TV series together, LeTV.com said in a file with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The deal will give LeTV.com 51 percent of the new joint venture while Nasdaq-listed Tudou.com will get the remaining 49 percent, according to the agreement.

LeTV.com also agreed to share its video resources with Tudou.com through an online platform http://tudou.letv.com.

"The alliance will allow LeTV.com to make fuller use of its resources in copyrighted movies and TV series, which will push up the popularity of our brand as well as drive up the advertising revenue," said Liu Hong, chief operating officer (COO) of LeTV.com.

The cooperation is aimed at spurring healthy and rapid development of the online video industry, rather than stoking competition for copyrights, said Wang Xiangyun, COO of Tudou.com.

Boosted by the announcement, the share price of LeTV.com surged 7.35 percent during the afternoon trading on Tuesday before closing at 25.26 yuan, up 3.69 percent from Monday, outperforming the broader Shenzhen Component Index, which tumbled 2.73 percent on China's gloomy economic data.