Gather the three luxurious dads.
Editor’s note: This article href=”https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-52tUhIcuQ4eVgutyn9ZtQ”> “Capital detective” from the micro-channel public number , Author: Lu Yue.
Sony, the “Papa” of the B station game pillar “FGO”, has finally become the “Papa” of Station B.
On April 9, Bilibili (referred to as “Station B”) announced that it had received a strategic investment of 400 million US dollars from Sony. According to the agreement, Sony will subscribe for 17.31 million Class Z common shares newly issued by Station B through a wholly-owned subsidiary at a total consideration of approximately US $ 400 million, at a purchase price of USD 23.1017 per Class Z common share, equivalent to each share American Depository Shares (ADS) of Station B is 23.1071 USD. After the completion of this transaction, Sony will hold approximately 4.98% of the total issued shares of Station B through its subsidiaries.
As a result, Xiao Po Station has gathered the three luxury “daddy” of Tencent, Alibaba and Sony.
In 2015, Tencent had already entered the market when the B station raised the C round of financing, and continued to invest in the D round. Before the listing of Station B in March 2018, Tencent already held approximately 5.2% of the shares and 1.2% of the voting rights. Seven months after its listing on Station B, Tencent once again subscribed a total of 25.06 million shares of newly issued common stock at Station B at a price of $ 1.268 billion per share, valued at approximately $ 317.6 million. The ratio is about 12%, becoming its second largest shareholder.
As of February 28, 2020, Tencent holds 13.3% of the shares and has 4% of the voting rights. It is the second largest shareholder of Station B.
Alibaba entered the game last February. In February 2019, Alibaba invested approximately 24 million shares in Station B through its wholly-owned subsidiary Taobao China and held approximately 8% of the shares. At that time, Station B was working on e-commerce business. After obtaining Ali’s investment, Station B and Taobao reached an extensive business cooperation. However, the focus of public opinion at that time was mainly on the B station “Taiwan” Tencent or Alibaba. After all, few companies of this size can easily navigate between the two giants.
As of February 28, 2020, Alibaba has a 7.2% stake in Station B and 2.2% of the voting rights, and is the fourth largest shareholder of Station B.
Shareholding structure of station B (as of February 28, 2020)
Sony ’s shareholding is not as unexpected as the combination of Tencent and Alibaba at Station B in 2019. As a comprehensive multinational group, Sony has many businesses in consumer electronics, mobile phones, games, movies, music, financial services, etc. It is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronic products, and one of the world’s three major players in the electronic game industry One of the six major Hollywood film companies.
This time the capital action, more meaning falls on the business level fit.
Listed at Station B in March 2018
From the perspective of the entertainment business, Sony and Station B have multiple cooperation directions:
First of all, the music field. Sony Music Entertainment is a global record company with many well-known artists.
On April 8, Station B announced that it has reached a strategic cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment. According to a special page on the website, users of Station B can watch the music video of Sony Music Entertainment ’s music library, including Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne and many other European and American blockbuster singers and works by well-known Chinese singers such as Jolin Tsai, A-Lin, Huang Qishan, Mo Wenwei
Although station B is a video platform and a secondary distribution center in traditional cognition, music is also a very important part of station B.
From secondary music, ghost and animal songs, to songs composed by UP masters, Station B has become an influential original music community in China. In addition, the B station has continued to add music content in recent years, and has launched multiple support programs for musicians, which not only gives traffic support, but also promotes the cooperation between the UP host and well-known musicians. Together with the well-known music producer Zhang Yadong, he created the original VOCALOID + vocal two-disc album “2: 3”. After the song went online, the number of plays quickly broke millions in a few days.
