Alibaba Pictures Unveils Investment Fund

BEIJING/HONG KONG: Alibaba Pictures has established a RMB2 billion ($300 million) fund to invest in film and TV companies.

The fund is being established by Alibaba Pictures in association with Gopher Asset Management. The Hainan Alibaba Pictures Entertainment Industry Investment Fund plans to invest in a range of film and TV companies under the “four key pillars of production development, celebrity resources, marketing and distribution, and advanced technology.”

Gopher is set to put in a maximum RMB1.5 billion while Alibaba will contribute a maximum of RMB500 million.

Zhang Qiang, CEO of Alibaba Pictures, said: “In recent years, the Chinese entertainment industry, which has mainly been driven by movies, has undergone rapid development. Bountiful investment opportunities and immense room for integration have emerged both upstream and downstream of the industry value chain. Alibaba Pictures aims to build a new internet-driven ecosystem for the entertainment industry, and will continue to pursue and evaluate related investment opportunities.”

Alibaba Pictures, a division of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group, has invested in Chinese films such as Ferry Man, Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom and Ao Jiao Yu Pian Jian as well as Hollywood projects such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Star Trek Beyond. It has a partnership with Skydance Media to finance and produce the WWII-themed feature film Flying Tigers and is gearing for the TV series Swords of Legends 2.