Google will invest in China’s Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology Ltd, a site that helps users download videos from the Internet, several reports confirmed yesterday.
Google’s lack of video and music in China has been the albatross around its neck, letting homegrown competitor Baidu zoom ahead of it — in part because it has such offerings.
Shenzhen Xunlei is a peer-to-peer file sharing network company akin to BitTorrent, and rumors of a Google investment have circulated weeks ago.
Read the account from China Daily here, which refers to a conversation with Xunlei’s Henry Wang.
China is the second largest Internet market, behind the U.S. Google is also trying to bolster its own video offering back in the U.S. too, at a time when BitTorrent and a host of other companies are offering online video stores. It recently bought YouTube for $1.65 billion.
Xunlei is said to have between 75 million to 100 million users of its software. It previously raised funding from Morningside Asia Advisory and IDG Ventures.
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