Friday, September 05, 2014

Tencent, Baidu and Wanda form e-commerce JV

News this week: Two of China’s leading Internet companies, Tencent and Baidu, have announced the formation of a new joint venture (JV) with Wanda, a real estate and movie theatre chain group. The JV is valued at about RMB 5 billion (US$814 million), in which Wanda will hold a majority 70% stake, while Tencent and Baidu will each hold 15%.

The JV will aim to gain more market share in China’s e-commerce market, which according to iResearch, online retail sales alone in China is expected to grow 46% to RMB 2.8 trillion (US$447 billion) this year.

The partnership will promote TenPay and Weixin Payment, Tencent’s online payment platforms. These platforms will be the preferred payment method for transactions across all of Wanda’s businesses. Meanwhile, Tencent will have access to movies, TV and online content owned by Wanda.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

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