China Literature to Acquire Tencent Animation and Comics

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Dec 11, 2023, 07:03 ET

HONG KONG, Dec. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China Literature Limited ("China Literature" or "the Company", stock code: 0772), a leading online literature and intellectual property ("IP") incubation platform in China, today announced that it has entered into an Asset Transfer Agreement with Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent", stock code: 0700) to acquire the related assets of Tencent Animation and Comics, including among others Tencent Animation and Comics' APP platform, the intellectual property rights and related rights to its content, and its animation, film and TV series projects, for an aggregate cash consideration of RMB600 million.

Established in 2012, Tencent Animation and Comics is a leading animation and comic platform in China. It has nurtured an ecosystem for animation and comic creators and consumers, and incubated top-tier IPs including The Outcast, The Fox Spirit Matchmaker and Spare Me, Great Lord!. Among these, the comic title The Outcast has a popularity index of 30 billion and a rating of 9.8 out of 10 on the Tencent Animation and Comics platform, and its adapted animation series has accumulated over 6.5 billion video views. In addition, its adapted TV series I Am Nobody has been a standout success, gaining a popularity index of more than 10,000 on the Youku platform and a Douban rating of 8.1 out of 10. Another popular title, The Fox Spirit Matchmaker, has been added to 5.5 million users' reading lists on the Tencent Animation and Comics platform, and the adapted animation series has received over 11 billion video views. Its upcoming TV adaptation, The Fox Spirit Matchmaker Yuehong, is expected to be released in 2024, and has already garnered more than 3 million pre-registrations on the iQIYI platform.

Mr. Hou Xiaonan, Chief Executive Officer of China Literature, commented, "China Literature and Tencent Animation and Comics share a rich history of collaboration which has yielded remarkable accomplishments. It is worth noting that approximately 50% of Tencent Animation and Comics' top 30 best-selling titles originate from China Literature's IPs. 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 the IP value of the original written works. I am truly thrilled to welcome Tencent Animation and Comics into the China Literature family. This acquisition will enrich China Literature's reservoir of blockbuster IPs, bolster our pipeline of comic adaptations, and further expand our production capacity for animation. We expect this alliance to become a key driver of China Literature's future growth, and through robust synergies, we believe the combined entity will create more value than either party could achieve individually. Looking ahead, China Literature intends to leverage artificial intelligence technologies to empower the adaptation of online literature into animation and comics, accelerating the visualization process of text-based IPs and thereby enhancing the efficiency of our IP commercialization efforts."

About China Literature Limited

China Literature is dedicated to building a deep and immersive intellectual property ("IP") universe for the Mandarin-speaking world. It incubates original IPs from its online literature platform, which are subsequently adapted on a range of digital entertainment mediums, including comics, animation, film, TV series, web series and games. The virtual world created by these digital offerings become an inseparable part of a user's daily life. China Literature creates and promotes IPs mainly through Qidian Reading and QQ Reading, its leading online literature platforms, as well as New Classics Media, a renowned film and TV drama series production house in China. China Literature collaborates with Tencent, its shareholder and strategic partner, as well as other third-party partners to distribute and develop IP content and to enhance value of its IP. Many of the Company's online literature works have been successfully adapted into animation, TV series, web series, film and games, including Joy of Life, Candle in the Tomb, Soul Land, The King's Avatar and My Heroic Husband. China Literature's rich and extensive content library as well as its unparalleled capability and resources to adapt IP into various entertainment formats is a significant competitive advantage that lies at the core of its business model. For more information, please visit http://ir.yuewen.com/.

Contact

For investors / analysts:
Maggie Zhou
Tel: +8621 6187 0500 ext. 80605
Email: [email protected]

For media:
Vivian Wang
Tel: +852 2232 3978
Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the industry and business outlook, forecast business plans and growth strategies of the Company. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and are stated herein on the basis of the outlook at the time of this press release. They are based on certain expectations, assumptions and premises, some of which are subjective or beyond our control. These forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect and may not be realized in future. Underlying the forward-looking statements is a large number of risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these risks and uncertainties is included in our other public disclosure documents on our corporate website.

SOURCE China Literature