China’s Alibaba Group revealed Tuesday that it has acquired full control of Beijing-based ticketing platform Damai.cn.
Alibaba said in a statement to THR that the full takeover of Damai “fits nicely into our ‘health and happiness’ strategy and forms a strategic part of the value chain in our media and entertainment business.”
Founded in 2004, Damai provides online ticketing services to concerts, sporting events, live theater, movies and other events. The company says it covers 330 cities globally and has sold tickets to over 1.8 million events from 46 regional offices.
Alibaba first invested in Damai in 2014. Financial terms for the acquisition were not disclosed.
“Damai.cn will be a powerful platform to distribute our media content as well as expand our user reach and engagement,” Alibaba said. “There will be extensive collaboration opportunities with our other entertainment assets including Alibaba Music, Alibaba Pictures and Youku.”
Alibaba did not specify whether it intended to integrate Damai with Tao Piao Piao, the flagship ticketing service of its film studio arm, Alibaba Pictures Group. APG has been spending heavily to secure market share for Tao Piao Piao.
The company issued a profit warning to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February, saying that losses for the full calendar year of 2016 could reach as much as $140 million, owing primarily to marketing costs for the mobile ticketing business.
“We believe the full acquisition this time will lead to even greater synergies,” Alibaba added Tuesday.
