Photo/Zhang Honglei (NBD)

Apr. 10 (NBD) – Chinese online entertainment platform Bilibili (Nasdaq: BILI) announced Thursday that Sony Corporation (Sony) will invest about 400 million U.S. dollars in it, and the pair will cooperate in areas including anime and mobile games in China.

Under the agreement, Sony Corporation of America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony, will subscribe around 400 million U.S. dollars worth of Bilibili's newly issued Class Z ordinary shares.

The stake involved amounts to about 4.98 percent of Bilibili’s total issued shares, which will make Sony the sixth-largest shareholder after names including tech giants Tencent and Alibaba.

Originally an anime-centric video website, Bilibili has grown into a comprehensive entertainment platform, the businesses of which include mobile games, live streaming, and film production. The site is especially popular among China's young generation.

Sony's involvement in Bilibili goes way back. Starting from 2014, Bilibili has purchased copyrights of hit animation works from Aniplex, a fully-owned subsidiary of Sony.

In 2016, Bilibili became the Chinese proxy of Aniplex's popular mobile game Fate/Grand Order, which generated over 50 percent of Bilibili's revenues in 2017 and was considered pivotal in paving Bilibili's way to the Nasdaq listing in 2018.

Aided by Bilibili's influence among the young generation and strength in online entertainment, Sony can further expand its entertainment business, the international conglomerate said on social media Thursday regarding the new equity investment.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn