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Alpha Acquires U17.com in Biggest Acquisition deal in Chinese Animation History

Posted By : Mukesh    At 8/18/2015 12:52:52 AM

Tags : Chinese Animation History     

Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture Company LTD., parent company of Auldey Toys North America who distributes Sky Rover Voice Command Helicopter, Wave Racers, and produces the children's animated TV show Super Wings, have acquired 100% shares of U17.com, China's premier platform for original comics and animations.

Alpha, one of the largest animation and entertainment businesses in China, has years of experience in operating and creating value from animation. U17.com, the largest online platform in China for the creation and publication of Internet comics, is committed to converting animations, films, games, and other full-fledged entertainment products on its platform through this partnership.

The transaction will incorporate U17.com into Alpha's Anime, Comic, and Games (ACG) platform, which is expected to become the growth engine for Alpha's "pan-entertainment" ecosystem. The marriage of the two companies, valued at RMB 904 million, will be the largest merger and acquisition deal in the Chinese animation history.

"It's a gathering place for a countless number of hopeful and aspiring creators; it's a place where the desire for freedom and the dreams of teenage years merge and grow," said Zhou Jingqi, Founder, U17.com. "We have been approached by many big companies in the past two years for buying our shares or merger and acquisition deals. There are film and television groups, game associations, and other industry heavyweights. But we turned them away, for we believe U17.com needs a partner that truly appreciates the values of comics and animations and that, to us, was Alpha."

The U17.com website brings an average of 40 million hits a day and it has close to 7 million registered users and over 40,000 comics created by 20,000 cartoonists.

"For Alpha, partnering with U17.com is like capturing China's largest goldmine of animation IP's," said Chen Derong, President, Alpha's Interactive Entertainment division. "U17.com is a rare gem in the industry with three distinguishing features – originality, platform-centeredness, and benchmark status."

U17.com unveiled Plan U, the business plan for its next phase of development. Plan U will include the ambitious target of increasing the number of professional comics and cartoonists on the platform by tenfold; and, more importantly, U17.com's plan to introduce a much-improved revenue sharing scheme to its considerable base of freelance authors, who may see their income from their creations doubled, tripled, or more.

The merger will extend Alpha's lineup to cover all age groups, create an even more diverse range of contents, and cement Alpha's leading position in providing extraordinary and creative contents to audiences in China, and around the globe.