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Youku

Type	Public (NYSE: YOKU)
Foundation date	March 2006 (2006-03)
Headquarters	Beijing, China[1][2]
Founder(s)	Victor Koo
Industry	Internet
Services	Online services
Revenue	US$ 897 million (2011)
Slogan(s)	"The World is Watching"
Website	www.youku.com
Alexa rank	68 (April 2013[update])[3]
Type of site	Video hosting service
Registration	Optional (required to upload and/or comment on videos)
Available in	Chinese
Launched	December 21, 2006 (2006-12-21)
Current status	Active

Youku Inc., formerly Youku.com Inc.,^[2][4] doing business as Youku (simplified Chinese: 优酷; traditional Chinese: 優酷; pinyin: yōukù; literally "excellent (and) cool"), is a Chinese video hosting service based in the People's Republic of China, it is the second largest video site in the world with a alexa ranking just after YouTube.

Youku has its headquarters on the fifth floor of Sinosteel Plaza (S:中钢国际广场, T: 中鋼國際廣場, P: Zhōnggāng Guójì Guǎngchǎng) in Haidian District, Beijing.^[5][6]

On March 12, 2012, Youku reached an agreement to acquire Tudou in a stock-for-stock transaction, the new entity being named Youku Tudou Inc.^[7]

History [edit]

Youku was founded by Victor Koo, former President of Chinese Internet portal Sohu. Initial funding for the site came from 1Verge, a fund raised by Koo. A beta version of the site was launched with limited geographic reach in June 2006, and the website was formally launched in December 2006. In 2007, the company received $25 million in funding from venture capitalists.^[8] In December 2009, the company announced that it had raised a total of $110 million in private equity funding. Major investors include Brookside (Bain) Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Maverick Capital, and Chengwei Ventures.^[9]

The company initially emphasized user-generated content but has since shifted its focus to professionally produced videos licensed from over 1,500 content partners.^[9]

As of January 2010, Youku.com was ranked #1 in Chinese Internet video sector according to Internet metrics provider CR-Nielsen.^[10] Keeping in mind that YouTube is banned in China. In 2008, Youku partnered with Myspace in China.^[11] Later that year, Youku became the sole online video provider embedded in the China Edition of popular web browser Mozilla Firefox.^[12]

In January 2010, Youku and competitor Tudou announced the creation of a video broadcasting exchange network, under which Youku and Tudou will cross-license professionally produced video content.^[13]

Youku recorded gross revenues of 200 million RMB in 2009.^[14]

On December 8, 2010, Youku was listed at the New York Stock Exchange for its first time. The stock closed at $33.44 on its first day of trading giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $3.3 billion. For the first 9 months of 2010 Youku reported revenue of $35.1 million and recorded a loss of $25 million during this period. YouKu.com seems to have no relation to the Chinese domain youku.cn.

Features [edit]

Youku permits users to upload videos irrespective of length. Youku has partnered with over 1,500 license holders, including television stations, distributors, and film and TV production companies in China that regularly upload media content on the site.

Youku allows the Government of China to check for inappropriate or offensive videos anytime.

Youku's video library includes many full length films and TV episodes from the West. Viewers from around the world can see these films on Youku for free, though often with Chinese subtitles. Other popular sites such as Youtube cannot display this content because of copyright restrictions, but these laws either do not exist in China or are poorly enforced, enabling Youku to broadcast copyrighted content from their website without license. In January 2010, Youku implemented a digital fingerprinting technology intended to eliminate copyright infringing content on the site.

Some Youku videos are blocked to international IP addresses because of licensing issues. However, software exists to circumvent these restrictions, including a free software Google Chrome plugin called "Unblock Youku".^[15]

Merger [edit]

On March 12, 2012 two biggest video online companies in China, Youku and Tudou announced to merge. Before merger Youku has 21.8 percent of market share and Tudou has 13.7 percent. The name of the merged company is Youku Tudou Inc., however it is still behind YouTube.^[16]

See also [edit]

	People's Republic of China portal
	Internet portal

• Tudou
• 56.com

References [edit]

Further reading [edit]

• Youku Information at Business Week

External links [edit]

• Official website (Mobile) (Chinese)
  • Corporate information (English)
• Epstein, Gady. "China Groupon Clones’ Strategy: Burn Money Like Youku.com." Forbes. May 3, 2011.