Sony Corporation of America Makes a $400 Million Investment in Chinese Video Site Bilibili

Chinese video sharing site Bilibili said that it will receive a $400 million equity investment from Sony Corporation of America. [Thanks, Reuters.]

The Sony subsidiary will subscribe for 17,310,696 Class Z ordinary shares of Bilibili, which puts it about $23.1071 per share, according to the Shanghai-based company. With the investment, SCA will own about 4.98% of Bilibili’s total issued shares. Furthermore, it’ll come with a lock-up period of six months.

Sony Corporation of America and Bilibili aim to further collaborate in entertainment, focusing on anime and video games, to attract the Generation Z audience of China. The video-sharing site started as an animation site popular among teens, but it has since then expanded into various other areas. The website boasts over 130 million monthly active users.

Furthermore, the company recently inked an 800 million yuan ($113 million) contract, backed Tencent and Alibaba, for the broadcasting rights of League of Legends World Championships in China, where eSports has been gaining traction with the youth. The company beat out other companies in the bid, including Douyu, Huya, and Kuaishou. It also owns the Overwatch League organization Hangzhou Spark.

Here’s a statement from Bilibili:

“Sony’s investment further aligns us with the world’s leader in entertainment and technology, which will enhance our capability to bring high-quality content and services to our growing community.”