Alibaba to invest $590m in China smart phone maker Meizu

This entire round of funding is worth $650 million, with Haitong Capital, a PE arm of Haitong Securities, contributing the balance, Meizu announced via its official Weibo microblog.

Established in 2003, Zhuhai-based Meizu sold 1.5 million smart phones last month, with the launch of the MX4, MX4 Pro, Meizu Blue Charm Note and Meizu quad-core series.

The investment will help Alibaba grow its mobile operating system - YunOS - by offering it on Meizu devices, while the smart phone maker will get access to Alibaba's resources in e-commerce, mobile internet, mobile operating system and data analysis, according to a statement. Meizu is also expected to distribute its products through Alibaba's online shopping platforms.

"The investment in Meizu represents a significant expansion of the Alibaba Group ecosystem and an important step in our overall mobile strategy as we strive to bring users a wider array of mobile offerings and experiences," said Jian Wang, Alibaba's chief technology officer, in the statement.

China had more than one billion mobile phone users and about 40% of them use smart phones, according to consulting firm IDC. The top four in the fourth quarter of 2014 were Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies, said Canalys, a research provider.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• Alibaba Group
• Technology
• Growth capital
• manufacturing
• TMT