The head of Alibaba's video streaming service is cooperating with the police investigation because of financial problems.Fan Luyuan, CEO of Ali Pictures, has taken over as the president of Youku.
The head of Youku, the video streaming service owned by Alibaba, has resigned after being embroiled in an anti-corruption investigation.
Yang Weidong, who has led the video-streaming service for the past five years, was taken away by police on Monday and is under investigation in China for allegedly accepting improper payments, Alibaba said in a statement on Tuesday.
The company stated that Yang Weidong is cooperating with the police investigation due to financial problems.
Fan Luyuan, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba Pictures, will succeed Yang Weidong.
Yang's departure is a blow to parent company Alibaba, which is struggling to overtake video streaming rivals - Baidu-backed iQiyi - and Tencent Video -; and preparing for the planned retirement of its chairman and founder, Jack Ma, next year.
In the new anti-corruption campaign, tens of thousands of officials have been arrested in an ongoing anti-corruption campaign.New legislation introduced last year expanded the powers of the party's top anti-corruption watchdog to oversee inspections of all government ministries and state-owned institutions.
In recent months, the Chinese government has also cracked down on the entertainment industry.Earlier this year, Chinese movie star Fan Bingbing disappeared from public view after being accused of tax evasion.She was eventually fined 479 million yuan ($70 million).
Alibaba has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into entertainment in recent years, partnering with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners in 2016 and launching China's highest-budget movie Asura earlier this year.).However, the film's box office only reached $7.3 million in its first weekend after its release, and it was withdrawn immediately.
Alibaba's entertainment unit lost $554 million before interest, taxes and amortization in the three months to the end of September, or more than 50 cents on every dollar of revenue.
The company said in its annual report that it faced significant challenges attracting brands and marketers and monetizing the digital and entertainment content offered on Youku.com.
Translator/Japanese style
