Alibaba to take over China's YouTube

Billionaire Jack Ma's Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Friday announced an estimated $4.8 billion deal to take over video streaming service Youku Tudou as it seeks to spread its online empire.

Alibaba is snapping up Youku Tudou, China's equivalent to YouTube, in the latest of a string of acquisitions as it sets its sights far beyond its core eBay-style transactions business.

In a "definitive merger agreement", Alibaba will pay $27.60 in cash per US-traded American depositary share in Youku Tudou, the companies said in a statement, without giving the overall value.

That is up just $1 from an initial takeover bid Alibaba made last month.

The total value of the deal is $4.8 billion, according to Bloomberg News, which cited a person who familiar with the agreement who asked not to be identified because the details are not public.

When taking into account the cash held by Youku Tudou, the deal is worth about $3.7 billion, Bloomberg said.

Alibaba already owns more than 18 percent of Youku Tudou, which offers mostly professionally produced video content licensed from copyright holders.

Launching the takeover bid last month, Alibaba's Ma said he aimed to develop the hugely popular Youku Tudou as China's leading digital entertainment platform.

Youku Tudou welcomed the agreement.

"We are confident that we will strengthen our market position and further accelerate our growth through the integration of our advertising and consumer businesses with Alibaba's platform and Alipay services," said Youku Tudou chief executive Victor Koo.

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Photo: finance.yahoo.com