SHANGHAI, Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Tudou Holdings
Limited (NASDAQ: TUDO) ("Tudou" or the "Company"), a leading online
video company in China, today
announced that it has entered into an agreement with Leshi Internet
Information & Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. ("LeTV") through its
affiliate Shanghai Quan Toodou Network Science and Technology Co.,
Ltd. ("Quan Toodou") to form a joint venture company in
Shanghai.
The newly established joint venture company will be primarily
engaged in licensing video content to meet internet users' growing
demands and evolving preferences, supplementing each company's
independent content acquisition strategies. Under the agreement,
LeTV and Tudou will receive a 51% and 49% equity interest in the
joint venture company, respectively, in exchange for cash
investment of RMB510,000 and
RMB490,000, respectively. LeTV and
Tudou will together assess which video content to purchase based on
the quality of the content as well as viewer preferences. The joint
venture company will seek exclusive licensing rights as well as
sub-licensing rights for a majority of the purchased content.
Evelyn Wang, Chief Operating
Officer of Tudou, stated: "After exploring various options, we are
pleased to partner with LeTV to leverage its strong reputation with
Chinese content production teams and its proven track record in
sourcing high-quality, copyrighted content. Through our strategic
joint venture, we believe we will not only gain a formidable
partner, but also expect additional cooperation opportunities for
both companies going forward. In addition, we believe we will be
able to significantly enhance the growth of our licensed content
library in a cost-effective manner. We expect our partnership with
LeTV will further enhance our ability to satisfy the growing
demands for high quality content from China's Internet users."
Hong Liu, Chief Operating Officer
of LeTV commented: "We are very excited to be partnered with Tudou.
The joint venture brings together two leading online video websites
in China, leveraging Tudou's
in-house production capabilities, UGC and marketing expertise in
targeting Chinese viewers as well as LeTV's vast experience in
building licensing partnerships with China's leading production houses. Our
partnership will provide mutual leverage and support for expanding
and enhancing our content offering going forward."
About LeTV:
LeTV (CH: 300104) operates a leading online video site Letv.com
in China that has more than
700,000 active monthly paid users as of September 30, 2011. Founded in 2004, LeTV has
built one of the biggest copyrighted professional content libraries
in China, consisting of more than 50,000 TV series and 4,000
movies.
About Tudou.com:
Tudou is a leading online video company in China, where users can upload, view and share
videos. The Company's comprehensive video content library includes
user-generated content, licensed content and in-house produced
content. Tudou aims to build an online community where users can
find what they want to watch, share what they create and connect
with like-minded users.
Safe Harbor: Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements made
under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements
can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will," "expects,"
"anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "aims",
"estimates," "confident", "likely to" and similar statements. Among
other things, the quotations from management in this press release,
as well as the Company's strategic and operational plans, contain
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause
actual results to differ materially from those contained in any
forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the
following: the Company's business strategies and initiatives as
well as its business plans; the Company's future business
development, results of operations and financial condition; changes
in the Company's revenues and certain cost or expense items; the
Company's expectations with respect to increased revenue growth and
its ability to sustain profitability; the Company's services under
development or planning; the Company's ability to attract users and
advertisers and further enhance its brand recognition; the online
video and advertising industry in China may not grow at the rates projected by
market data, or at all; the failure of the markets to grow at the
projected rates may have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business and the market price of its ADSs; in addition, the rapidly
changing nature of the online video and advertising industry in
China subjects any projections or
estimates relating to the growth prospects or future condition of
the Company's market to significant uncertainties. If any one or
more of the assumptions underlying the market data turns out to be
incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on
these assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. Further information regarding
these and other risks is included in the Company's registration
statement on Form F-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. All information provided in this press release is
current as of the date of the press release, and the Company
undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required
under applicable law.
SOURCE Tudou.com