Veteran U.S.-China dealmaker Xiang joined the company soon after as CEO. Under Xiang, Huanxi has pursued a strategy of signing exclusive partnerships with China's most influential filmmakers in exchange for equity in the company. Wong Kar Wai, Zhang Yimou and Peter Chan all have exclusive relationships and stakes in the studio, while other prominent directors — such as Jia Zhangke , Manfred Wong and others — are under contract.
Huanxi was among the exceedingly few Chinese film companies to make a splash during the height of China's coronavirus outbreak near the start of the year.
Bilibili built its business as a video-sharing platform primarily for animation, gaming and live-streaming content, with a built-in innovation that allows users to overlay their commentary on the videos in real-time. As the service's popularity exploded — making it a genuine rival to the big three streaming giants, Tencent Video, Alibaba's Youku and Baidu's iQiyi — it diversified into a range of other video content categories, including traditional film and TV series.
The company's rising profile recently has attracted investment from more established tech giants. Sony took a $400 million stake in Bilibili in April, which followed Alibaba buying a 9 percent stake in the company last year. "We are actively broadening and diversifying our content to appeal to a wider audience," said Carly Lee, vice chairwoman and chief operating officer of Bilibili, about Monday's deal."We believe Huanxi’s library of high- quality content, as well as their relationships with China’s top directors, align with our strategy to continuously bring in rich new content, and open new opportunities to drive more and diverse demographics to our industry-leading entertainment platform.
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