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Oct. 12 (NBD) -- China's top anime video site Bilibili has decided to set up a separate unit to run its e-sports business, in an attempt to dabble deeper in the global e-sports market, according to a leaked internal letter which surfaced on the Internet Wednesday.

Bilibili Chief Executive Chen Rui will be chairman of the new company. Chen Youyou, former CEO of live-streaming platform Zhanqi TV, is appointed as president of the e-sports subsidiary and will report to Chen Rui.

Chen Youyou has built up a good reputation in the Overwatch e-sports circle during her time with Zhanqi TV, having directed Overwatch Team Story, an e-sports events brand under Zhanqi TV, set up a professional Overwatch team called Flag Gaming, as well as hired a large number of video game anchors for Overwatch competitions.

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by U.S. video game firm Blizzard Entertainment.

A day before the incorporation statement, Bilibili announced a partnership with Clutch Gaming, a League of Legends squad owned by the Houston Rockets.

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games.

The gaming sector has long been a major revenue contributor to Bilibili. The video site's earnings report shows that the company reaped approximately 1.03 billion yuan (149.0 million U.S. dollars) in revenue for the second quarter of 2018, in which the gaming business carried a heavy weight of 791 million yuan (114.4 million U.S. dollars).

However, as the game industry is seeing slower growth caused by tightened game approval, Bilibili has to look for new profit sources. As a result, the video-sharing site has placed great hopes on new businesses such as e-sports and live-streaming.

Eying the blooming e-sports field, Bilibili has been initiating corresponding measures since last December when the video-sharing site formed its own e-sports club Bilibili Gaming. The League of Legends team representing Bilibili participated in the League of Legends Pro League, ranking the 5th place on the scoreboard in the spring competition, and garnered the 2nd place at the Demacia Cup.

In addition, Blizzard Entertainment, this September, announced Bilibili was granted a permanent seat at the Overwatch League, with the team settling in Hangzhou, China as its home base.

Fueled by gradual development of e-sports leagues and professional events, the market scale of China's e-sports industry is expanding rapidly. Data shows that the country's e-sports market is expected to reach 86.3 billion yuan (12.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, representing a leap from last year's 65.5 billion yuan (9.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn