Alibaba to invest 500 million yuan into Damai

Eメール 印刷 PDF

Alibaba’s digital media and entertainment business group said it seeks to invest 500 million yuan (US$76 million) over the next two years in the upgrade of its online ticketing unit, Damai.cn, in order to bring an integrated service to booming online and offline entertainment businesses. It will also leverage off Alibaba’s understanding of consumers’ behavior and purchasing data to help entertainment businesses, and to provide financial and marketing service for entertainment and performance venues to help them connect with Alibaba’s vast online consumer base.

Yu Yongfu, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group, and chairman of Alibaba Pictures, said the entertainment business needs an integrated development strategy, and that it still has huge growth potential as consumers’ dispensable income grows. It will also beef up content services, data services, financial and marketing offerings by leveraging off the capabilities of its financial and data business affiliates within the Alibaba Group. Earlier this year, Alibaba Pictures said Fan Luyuan, a former top executive at Ant Financial, will become the company's chief executive to drive business synergy between other Alibaba subsidiaries and business units. Alibaba vice president and CEO of Damai, Zhang Yu, said its initiative to combine Damai’s online ticketing service with Alibaba’s music streaming software Xiami has also paid off.