China’s E-commerce Major Alibaba to Acquire Stake in Focus Media
China’s e-commerce major Alibaba Group announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to take over a minority stake in China's Focus Media Information Technology with an aim to tap into the digital marketing segment.
The e-commerce giant will be acquiring about 6.62 percent in Focus Media for about 9.63 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) and expectedly yet another 5 percent stake in the next one year as stated by the company.
Alibaba also has plans to invest $511.1 million in an entity managed by Jason Jiang, Focus Media's chairman, by subscribing to the newly issued shares of the company. Focus Media’s digital advertising screens can be seen on the streets, on subways and in elevators across 300 Chinese cities, reaching 200 million middle-class consumers.
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