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.
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