For the second time, Tencent is hailed as China's most valuable brand. (Photo : REUTERS)
There are now speculations that streaming site Youku Tudou is currently planning a merger with Baidu's online video subsidiary, iQiyi and Tencent Video.
The deal, if it does push through, would be worth multiple billions of dollars.
Industry experts believe that it is just a matter of time before the deal happens, or the whole online video market consolidates. The market, as it currently stands, is made up of many players: LeTV, Tencent Video, Sohu, Youku Tudou and iQiyi, among others.
Industry experts believe that consolidation of some of these players are bound to happen inevitably.
Speculations intensified when Netflix announced last week that it is in talks with Wasu Media, a Chinese media group supported by Jack Ma, chief of premier online site Alibaba.
Other partners are also said to be involved in the discussions, designed for Netflix to penetrate the Chinese online video market. In addition, Baidu has already been reported to be keen on iQiyi and Youku Tudou to merge for months.
When the tie-in ultimately happens, experts believe that it can take place in one of several ways. It can involve, for instance, Tencent trading its video division for Youku Tudou stock, then this being followed by more investment. Under this scenario. the new company would be headed by the managers of Youku Tudou.
"I can imagine that this would be more of a takeover by Baidu it's going to happen, it has so much more resources," explained one insider.
All these remain pure speculations because iQiyi chief executive Gong Yu has denied such merger from taking place. On his Sina Weibo account, he wrote: "The news is completely false. iQiyi and the shareholders have never communicated or negotiated with Youku."
