Alpha Acquires Chinese Comic Site

Chinese animation company takes ownership of digital comic platform U17.com.

Guangdong Alpha Animation and Culture Company, the parent company of Auldey Toys North America, has bought 100 percent of the shares of U17.com, a Chinese digital platform for original comics and animations.

“For Alpha, partnering with U17.com is like capturing China’s largest goldmine of animation IP’s,” says Chen Derong, president, Alpha’s Interactive Entertainment division. “U17.com is a rare gem in the industry with three distinguishing features–originality, platform-centeredness and benchmark status.”

The U17.com website has close to 7 million registered users and currently features more than 40,000 comics from 20,000 cartoonists. The site gets an average of 40 million views a day.

U17.com will now become part of Alpha’s Anime, Comic and Games platform, which is designed to be a growth engine for Alpha’s “pan-entertainment” ecosystem.

Combined the two companies are valued at RMB 904 million (approximately $142 million).

Auldey Toys distributes the Sky Rover Voice Command Helicopter, Wave Racers and produces the children’s animated TV show "Super Wings." As part of the acquisition, U17.com will convert animations, films, games and other entertainment products from Alpha and Auldey onto its platform.

“It’s a gathering place for a countless number of hopeful and aspiring creators; it’s a place where the desire for freedom and the dreams of teenage years merge and grow,” says Zhou Jingqi, founder, U17.com. “We have been approached by many big companies in the past two years for buying our shares or merger and acquisition deals, but we turned them away, for we believe U17.com needs a partner that truly appreciates the values of comics and animations and that, to us, was Alpha.”