Heyi Group Forms Entertainment JV With The9 In China

Heyi Group, formerly known as Youku Tudou Group, and The9 announced that the two parties had signed an agreement to build a joint venture.

With the name of "Jiuhe Digital Entertainment Company", the new JV will be engaged in the development, production and distribution of gaming-related cultural entertainment content, including movies, Internet shows, Internet entertainment programs, and game development and distribution.

Both parties believe that it is important to extend quality intellectual property to multiple cultural and entertainment platforms to attract users, enhance user loyalty, and increase usage frequency. After the establishment of the JV, the two parties will make more effort to extend high-quality gaming into other sectors.

Gu Yongqiang, chairman and chief executive officer of Heyi Group, said that establishing a multi-screen cultural entertainment ecosystem has always been the development direction of Youku Tudou and the collaboration with games will become an important part of the ecosystem construction. They are glad to work together with The9 in this important strategic direction. In the future, they will bring more diversified entertainment contents and experience to users.

Zhu Jun, chairman and chief executive officer of The9, said they are glad to build the joint venture with Heyi Group and jointly promote the production and distribution of gaming-related cultural entertainment contents. They will start discussing various contents, including movies, Internet shows, and Internet entertainment programs. In addition, they plan to establish the new ecology of quality intellectual property resources.

Financial details of the joint venture, including share allocation and ownership percentages, were not available.