Alibaba seeks Youku Tudou buyout

Alibaba is bidding to buy the remaining shares in Youku Tudou, dubbed ‘China’s Youtube’ in a deal which values the company at US$5.2 billion.

The eCommerce already owns 18.3 per cent of the online video on demand service and says it will pay cash for the balance from its cash assets.

Youku Tudou is publicly listed and Alibaba has offered a premium of 30.2 per cent over the pre-offer share price. The bid already has the support of the site’s founder Viktor Koo.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said digital products, especially video, “are just as important as physical goods in eCommerce”.

“Youku’s high-quality video content will be a core component of Alibaba’s digital product offering in the future,” he said.