Shanghai-based firm acquires Tencent's animation-comics assets
China Literature, the country's biggest online publishing and e-book service provider, will pay 600 million yuan (US$84.5 million) to acquire tech giant Tencent's animation and comics businesses, the Hong Kong-listed firm announced on Monday night.
The acquisition will boost the integration of online literature, animation, games and mini-dramas and improve production of works, China Literature said.
Shares of China Literature surged 13.08 percent on the Hong Kong stock market to close at HK$30.25 (US$3.88) on Tuesday on the news.
The acquisition assets cover Tencent Animation and Comics, its app platform, the intellectual property rights and related rights to its content, and its animation, film and TV series projects, the Shanghai-based company said.
China Literature and Tencent Animation and Comics share a rich history of collaboration. It is worth noting that half of Tencent Animation and Comics' top 30 best-selling titles originate from China Literature's IPs, according to Hou Xiaonan, chief executive officer of China Literature.
"Online literature has served as a rich vein of storytelling material for successful comics and animation, while comics and animation have created vivid imagery to accompany stories from our platform, significantly enhancing their IP value," Hou added.
Established in 2012, Tencent Animation and Comics has nurtured an ecosystem for animation and comic creators and consumers, and incubated top-tier IPs. Among them, the comic title "The Outcast" has attracted 30 billion clicks and its adapted animation series has accumulated over 6.5 billion video views.
In future, China Literature will use artificial intelligence to speed up production and distribution works.
Tencent Animation and Comics has a batch of best-selling IPs, which can be transferred into game, mini-drama and TV series.
After the acquisition, China Literature will strengthen cooperation with Tencent on mini-drama and cloud services. Between 2023 and 2025, both sides will co-develop 40, 100 and 160 mini-dramas, respectively.
With each episode running for less than five or even three minutes, the dramas portray exciting and attractive stories, which have received a warm market response both domestically and globally.
The popular titles include an ordinary and timid son-in-law who transforms into the influential alpha male of the family; a once-abandoned husband who completes a magnificent transformation and takes revenge; and how an average Joe becomes a business genius and wins his business battle.
In 2023, China's micro-drama market size would reach 37.4 billion yuan, a 270 percent growth year-on-year, analysts said.
