YG inks deals with China's Tencent, Weying

From left, Weying Technology CEO David Lim, YG Entertainment CEO Yang Min-suk and General Manager of the Film/Drama Department and Editor in Chief at Tencent Video Suman Wang sign an investment agreement at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of YG Entertainment

By Kim Jae-heun

YG Entertainment (YG) has signed an investment agreement with China’s leading online company Tencent Group and top online ticketing firm Weying Technology, Tuesday.

Weying and Tencent Group invested $55 million and $30 million, respectively, to acquire 8.2 percent and 4.5 percent shares in the Korean entertainment company and become YG’s third- and fourth-largest stakeholders. The top two major YG shareholders are YG founder Yang Hyun-suk and CEO Yang Min-suk, followed by L Capital, the investment arm of French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.

The signing ceremony was attended by YG CEO Yang, Tencent Video’s Film/Drama Department General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Suman Wang, Tencent Video’s Variety Department General Manager Tina Ma and Weying Technology CEO David Lim, who announced their short-term projects and long-term goals for YG Entertainment in China.

“During the last two years, YG has made every effort to promote its music and content in China,” said Yang at the ceremony held in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. “However, we realized our limits in communicating with Chinese audiences. Our agreement with Tencent and Weying will create synergy to better provide YG music and content according to the tastes of Chinese people."

Half of China’s 1.3 billion people use Tencent’s video platform and Weying’s mobile service, according to Yang, who expects to reach a minimum 600 million consumers through the channels.

Lim explained that Weying Technology has contracts for over 80 percent of the country’s concerts and music festivals. He said his company will provide information on its users to the Korean company based on the platform’s big data analysis.

Tencent Group, which owns the largest video platform in China and instant messaging software service QQ, promised to share its 800 million nationwide users with YG. This is particularly important to YG as Tencent QQ offers various services such as online games, music, movies and shopping, which are mostly the business sectors that the Korean entertainment company is focused on. YG Entertainment has recently widened its scope to movies, fashion, beauty and golf.

YG agreed to provide its music and content to Tencent Video exclusively, which will open an official YG website where the videos will be released. Concerts by YG artists will also be streamed live on Tencent’s platform.

The two companies announced that they have already produced two TV shows together, including “The Collaboration,” which is an idol audition survival show among Korean and Chinese musicians, and a show introducing Korean fashion trends, beauty products and music to China under the provisional title “Star’s Taste.”

In “The Collaboration,” four Korean singers including Winner’s Kang Seung-yoon and Song Min-ho compete with four Chinese pop stars. “The show has already gained great popularity in China with 100 million viewers,” said Ma.

Kang, who attended the ceremony with four members of Winner, said that his appearance on the survival show allows him to share musical experience with Chinese singers, which is a challenge for him. He added that the band has not yet held a concert in China and he hopes for one in the near future.