IQiyi inks US$300m deal with gamer

CHINA’S Nasdaq-listed iQiyi, an online video platform, said yesterday it was paying 2 billion yuan (US$300 million) to acquire Chengdu-based game developer Skymoons Technology as the Beijing-headquartered company diversifies its business.

iQiyi, which issued an IPO on the Nasdaq to raise US$2.25 billion in March, plans to establish a digital entertainment empire through expansion and technology upgrades, including gaming, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, the company said recently.

IQiyi’s chief executive officer, Yu Gong, said the Skymoons deal would broaden the platform’s “offering of entertainment content across multiple formats” and help create more ways to monetize its intellectual property.

“We believe Skymoons is a natural extension to our business and will strengthen iQiyi’s media platform and our overall ecosystem,” he said.

The deal includes a fixed payment of 1.27 billion yuan and additional 730 million yuan over the next two years, if Skymoons meets certain benchmarks.

iQiyi faces fierce competition with Tencent’s online video business and the Alibaba-backed Youku Tudou.

iQiyi has been dubbed China’s Netflix and some of its productions are available globally on Netflix. Online video services have become the darling of investors due to their strong potential as China moves towards a consumptiondriven economic growth.