By Kimberley Kao


Alibaba Group's media and entertainment arm will spend about US$640 million to promote movies, television dramas and creative events in Hong Kong over the next five years, coming after the unit of the Chinese technology titan posted a jump in sales on the strength of China's box office.

Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group will invest 5 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$639.2 million) to revitalize Hong Kong's creative industries, including funding talent development in the Asian financial hub, it said Monday.

It said the funding will be shepherded by businesses including Alibaba Pictures and long-video platform Youku, adding that both signed deals Monday with Hong Kong-based production studios. Some of the funding has already been earmarked for a host of TV dramas and films, it said.

Alibaba Pictures, a Beijing-based subsidiary listed in Hong Kong, also said it will establish a second headquarters in the city.

The digital-media arm is one of Alibaba's smallest units, contributing about 2.3% of the e-commerce giant's consolidated revenue in the nine months ended December.

In the October-December quarter, the unit's revenue rose 18% from a year earlier to about US$710 million on gains by Alibaba Pictures, which it said produced, promoted and distributed more than half of China's total box office during the period. It said that ticketing platform Damai, a subsidiary of Alibaba Pictures, serviced "almost all the major concerts in China."


Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-12-24 0032ET