Bilibili becomes owner of Youyaoqi comics platform

China’s Tianyancha business survey platform shows that Beijing Siyue Star Network Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Youyaoqi, has registered an official change with the country’s Industrial and Commercial Administration. Its original shareholder Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd. pulled out, adding Shanghai Magic Electric Information Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliate of leading video-sharing site Bilibili, as a 100% shareholder. The legal representative of the company was changed from Luo Xiaoxing to Zheng Binwei.

On November 19, 2021, according to an announcement on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange published by Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd., Bilibili acquired its entire subsidiary Youyaoqi, an original anime platform. The purchase price was 600 million yuan ($94.6 million). According to the announcement, the main business with Youyaoqi includes an original comics website and the operation of a “Youyaoqi Comics” application, the publication of online comics, animation and the exploitation of the right of author on comic works.

Founded in 2009, Youyaoqi is one of the first online original cartoon platforms in China. By 2021, the company had amassed over 32 million users, amassed over 70,000 original cartoonists, and serialized over 45,000 original comic works. It has collected top-selling works and IPs such as “One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes”, “Rakshasa Street”, “BEE”, and “Duan Nao”.

SEE ALSO: Bilibili Obtains Payment License, Acquires Original Comics Platform Youyaoqi

bilibili, on the other hand, has been closely related to animation since its inception. According to iResearch China’s ACG Industry Report 2020, the platform invested in 26 animation-related companies in the three years from 2017 to 2019. In addition, animation works adapted from several cartoons Youyaoqi’s top anime was also simulcast on Bilibili., among them the broadcast volume of Rakshasa Street in Bilibili surpassed 300 million in the second season of 2021.

Li Ni, Vice President and COO of Bilibili, said, “Youyaoqi is home to many popular original works, and we expect these core works to manifest in diverse ways in Bilibili’s content ecosystem..”