Alibaba‘s online movie ticketing platform, Taobao Movie, is part of its Hong Kong listed entity Alibaba Pictures. Recently, it raised $ 260 million in fresh financing and was valued at $ 2.1 billion during this round of fund raising. This is a significant increase in its valuation, which stood at $ 266 million five months ago, as valued by an independent appraiser. Taobao Movie was launched in 2014 and merged with Alibaba Pictures last year as part of a deal with its parent company, The Alibaba Group. While Alibaba Pictures claims that Taobao Movie covers more than 5,000 Chinese cinemas accounting for 95% of the country’s box office revenues, it faces tough competition in the cash burning Chinese online movie ticket market. Estimates put Taobao Movie’s market share at less than 10%, in a market whose overall size is less than 15% of Alibaba’s GMV (gross merchandise value) for fiscal year 2016. While online movie ticketing is a promising business in China, this segment will not drive any significant revenues for Alibaba over the short term, in our view.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/27QKbib
via IFTTT