China Literature, the country’s largest online publishing and e-book company and a spinoff of Tencent Holdings, agreed to buy the animation and comics business from its controlling shareholder Tencent for RMB 600 million ($83.9 million), reports Caixin. Tencent Animation and Comics has been making a loss for the past two years, losing RMB 190 million in 2021 and RMB 111 million in 2022. As of Sept. 30, the unit’s assets had a book value of RMB 442 million.
China Literature and Tencent Animation and Comics already have deep collaboration in their businesses. About 50% of Tencent Animation and Comics’ top 30 best-selling titles originate from China Literature’s intellectual properties (IPs), said Hou Xiaonan, CEO of China Literature.
This acquisition will enrich China Literature’s reservoir of blockbuster IPs, bolster its pipeline of comic adaptations and further expand its production capacity for animation, Hou said.