Alibaba's new entertainment subsidiary

Yu Yongfu, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group, reveals details about the newly-founded division Live Entertainment Performance Group. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group recently established a new live-performance business subsidiary, a move seen as going along with the group's ambitions in the entertainment world.

Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group, a division of Alibaba Group, announced that the new subsidiary would be known as Live Entertainment Business Group.

Earlier this year, Alibaba Group fully acquired the online ticketing platform damai.cn. Last year, the tickets — most of which were for concerts, stage plays or sports events — sold by the website accounted for around 70 percent of the total such sales on the mainland.

The new arm comprises three departments: Damai concentrating on online ticket sales, MaiLive on performance organizations and promotions and Maizuo on installing digital systems at venues.

Yu Yongfu, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group, said in a statement that the new arm will rely on the mother company's customer base to accurately target potential consumers. The group online market taobao.com has around 500 million active buyers.