An actor checks his mobile phone on a Chinese film set. (Photo : Reuters)
Alibaba Pictures chairman Shao Xiaofeng has been appointed as CEO of Enlight Media, one of China’s leading private film production firms, both companies announced on Monday.
Alibaba Pictures' parent company, Alibaba Holdings, is Enlight's biggest shareholder after it purchased an 8.8-percent stake worth $380 million in the film studio in March the previous year.
Shao's appointment is seen in China as deepening the relationship between the two companies and making Alibaba Picture more competitive in the Chinese market, the Hollywood Reporter said in a report published Monday.
Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, who has publicly expressed interest to become a major player in the international film industry, described Alibaba as "the biggest entertainment company in the world." However, its movie unit has been struggling since its purchase the previous year, with Alibaba Pictures posting losses of $54 million by the end of 2014.
In an announcement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Enlight said Monday that it agreed to appoint Shao as CEO after a board meeting. Enlight, whose low-budget comedy "Lost in Thailand" brought in $202 million domestically, has also made no secret of its international ambitions. In a statement made the previous year, Enlight said that it will invest $550 million to produce 32 movies by May 2017.
Alibaba, whose main revenue stream is selling products online, has been expanding to online video streaming sites, Internet TV hardware, sports, film production and video games in recent years. In June 2014, the e-commerce giant acquired a controlling stake in ChinaVision Media Group for $800 million to form Alibaba Pictures.
In February, Alibaba announced plans to incorporate its Taobao Movie online ticketing business and its Yulebao production crowdfunding platform into Alibaba Pictures in a bid to stem losses from the group. In August, Alibaba and Ma's Yunfeng Capital invested $1.2 billion in online video website Youku Tudou.
Alibaba spent more than $3 billion in the entertainment industry in 2014, window shopping for content and even potential acquisitions in Hollywood, but it has yet to make a major move there, the Hollywood Reporter said in its report.
