ByteDance to invest USD 170 million into e-book reader Zhangyue

CIOReviewIndia Team | Thursday, 05 November 2020, 05:53 IST

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ByteDance to invest USD 170 million into e-book reader Zhangyue

To fuel growth, ByteDance is expanding into numerous new areas like other tech giants. So for this, a news came this week stating that the firm will invest in one of China’s largest e-book readers and publishers, Zhangyue. 

 

While for 1.1 billion yuan or $170 million, Zhangyue announced Wednesday evening that a ByteDance wholly-owned subsidiary plan to acquire about 11 percent of its shares. With a current market cap of 12 billion yuan, the China-listed online literature company operates an app where 170 million users read novels, magazines, anime and listen to audiobooks every month during H1.

A credible researcher said, “The partners are targeting a booming online reading market driven by China’s smartphone penetration. In 2019, users spent nearly an hour a day on their e-reading apps, according to market insight provider iResearch. The sector is projected to generate 20.6 billion yuan in revenue, which includes subscription and licensing fees, by 2020; that’s up from 6.6 billion yuan in 2015. Meanwhile, e-book users in the country will reach 510 million this year.” 

Also, with an alliance between Zhangyue and China’s leading digital entertainment titan, ByteDance will get to assign one board member to Zhangyue and will be able to license the publisher’s intellectual property. 

And up from 270 million yuan a year before the equity acquisition, the collaboration will incur 470 million yuan worth of transactions between the partners in the following year.

 
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