Why Is Alibaba Expanding Its Online Gaming Business?
Back in 2008, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) co-founder Jack Ma mocked China's video game market and declared his company "would rather starve to death than live on games." Ma reiterated that stance two years later, declaring Alibaba wouldn't invest a single "penny" in video games.
But in 2014, Alibaba changed its tune and launched its first mobile games platform. It expanded the business by buying UC Mobile (previously UCWeb) and its gaming platform 9Game, and acquiring stake in American game developer Kabam, that same year. In 2017, it bought the gaming company Ejoy and used the subsidiary to launch a new gaming division led by former NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) former chief operating officer Zhan Zhonghui.
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Source Fool.com
