Alibaba plans $1.5b entertainment investment fund

Several media reports relating to the fund were linked to from Alibaba's corporate news website Alizila. Further details on the fund were not disclosed.

It follows the creation of a new digital media group - Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group (ADMEG) - that will consolidate Alibaba-owned video streaming platform Youku Tudou, web browser UCWeb, and Hong Kong-listed Alibaba Pictures under a single entity. The umbrella group will also include the company's sports, games, literature, music and digital entertainment divisions.

Yongfu Yu, former CEO of UCWeb, will become the chairman and CEO of ADMEG. Youku co-founder Victor Koo will step down from Youku Tudou and become head of ADMEG's strategy committee, overseeing the new entertainment fund, according to Bloomberg.

Alibaba has establishing itself in Hollywood by backed movies such as Paramount Pictures' "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" and "Star Trek Beyond."

In July, Alibaba Pictures launched a $300 million fund that will make movie and TV-related investments. Earlier this month, it bought a stake in Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners to co-produce and finance films for global audiences. Alibaba Pictures, which previously acquired movie ticketing platform Taobao Movie from its parent, will support marketing, distribution and merchandising of Amblin movies in China.

Several Chinese internet companies have in recent years sought to diversify into the media and entertainment sector, with a view to engaging a younger demographic that is increasingly resistant to traditional forms of advertising and content consumption. For example, in June, Baidu set up a $303 million media fund that will support the production of at least 30 movies over the next two years.

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