SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bilibili Inc. (“Bilibili”) (Nasdaq: BILI), a leading online entertainment platform for young generations in China, and Taobao Marketplace (“Taobao”), China’s largest mobile commerce destination under Alibaba Group (“Alibaba”), today announced that they have entered into a business collaboration agreement in content-driven e-commerce and commercialization of Bilibili’s intellectual property (“IP”) assets.



Under the agreement, Bilibili and Taobao will collaborate to develop a dynamic ecosystem that will better connect content creators, merchandise and users on both platforms. Specifically, through Bilibili, content creators on Bilibili will register and operate a number of accounts on Taobao, and promote merchandise by producing content in a creative and interactive format. Bilibili and Taobao will also work to promote and commercialize Bilibili’s IP assets, leveraging consumer insights on both platforms. Additionally, Taobao will provide Bilibili with e-commerce technical support to ensure a more efficient user experience.

“This business collaboration with Taobao is a remarkable testament to Bilibili’s commercial potential and closely aligns us with China’s leading and most successful e-commerce platform,” said Mr. Rui Chen, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bilibili. “We can now leverage Taobao’s gigantic platform and seasoned e-commerce operating capabilities to further help our content creators realize and improve their commercial values, thereby building a more-virtuous content community and commercialization-focused ecosystem.”

“Through this collaboration, we will better incentivize the creativity of our young people and will utilize each other’s strengths and resources to generate more premium content. We look forward to working with Taobao to fulfill the tremendous entertainment and consumption needs of the young generations in China, and importantly, in turn, we look forward to increasing the value we bring to all of our stakeholders,” Mr. Chen concluded.

“Early in 2015, Taobao rolled out a program to encourage bloggers, writers and online experts to post content on various channels on Taobao, to amplify the value of creative content. Over 1.6 million content creators, including anime, comic and games (ACG) experts, were actively supporting the Taobao App and helping brands on our platform engage with consumers,” said Fan Jiang, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taobao. “Through deep cooperation with IP holders and content creators, Taobao has experienced the great potential of ACG. We greatly value Bilibili’s unique online hub themed around ACG, and appreciate “Gen Z” demographic expertise and believe there is a great, natural synergy between us. Together with Bilibili, we are devoted to tapping into the significant business value of this coveted demographic and bringing rich content and products to the young generations.”

About Bilibili Inc.

Bilibili represents the iconic brand of online entertainment with a mission to enrich the everyday life of young generations in China. Bilibili is a full-spectrum online entertainment world covering a wide array of genres and media formats, including videos, live broadcasting and mobile games. Bilibili provides an immersive entertainment experience and high-quality content that caters to the evolving and diversified interests of its users and communities, and has built its platform based on the strong emotional connections of Bilibili’s users to its content and communities.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.bilibili.com .

About Taobao Marketplace

Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is a social commerce platform that allows consumers to enjoy an engaging, personalized shopping experience, optimized by big-data analytics. Through highly relevant and engaging content, as well as real-time updates from merchants, consumers can learn about products and new trends at the same time as interacting with each other and their favorite merchants and brands. Merchants on Taobao Marketplace are primarily individuals and small businesses. According to Analysis, Taobao Marketplace was China’s largest mobile commerce destination in terms of gross merchandise value in 2017. Taobao Marketplace is a business of Alibaba Group.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, statements regarding the expected closing of the transaction in this announcement are or 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, those included in Bilibili’s and Alibaba’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and neither Bilibili Inc. nor Alibaba Group Holding Limited undertakes any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

For Bilibili in China:

Bilibili Inc.

Juliet Yang

Tel: +86-21-2509 9255 Ext. 8523

E-mail: ir@bilibili.com

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Ross Warner

Tel: +86-10-5730-6200

E-mail: bilibili@tpg-ir.com

For Bilibili in the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: bilibili@tpg-ir.com

For Taobao:

Katie Lee

Tel: +852 6843 5667

Email: k.lee@alibaba-inc.com

Claire Zhao

Tel: +852 9727 8923

Email: yanan.z@alibaba-inc.com