Alibaba Takes $1.22B Stake In Youku Tudou, China’s YouTube

E-commerce giant Alibaba, part of Yahoo, is buying a $1.22 billion stake in Youku Tudou, the main online video provider in China, akin to YouTube. The move looks like a competitive bulwark against its main rival, Tencent.

Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital are paying $30.50 per American Depositary Receipt of Youku, or a 26.3% premium over the last traded price, Youku Tudou said in a statement. The two companies will jointly own a 18.5 percent stake in Youku. Alibaba CEO Jonathan Lu will join Tudou’s board.

Alibaba has been on a roll, spending $4 billion on acquiring three companies in the past six months. And it’s preparing for a U.S. IPO to raise more than $15 billion.

Yunfeng Capital, co-founded by Alibaba’s Jack Ma, is raising up to $1 billion in its second fund.