Chinese smartphone group Xiaomi is increasing its ownership of internet content by snapping up a $300m stake in Iqiyi, the country’s second-largest online video site, from search engine Baidu.
The move is Xiaomi’s second such deal in as many weeks, following its purchase of a stake in Youku Tudou, China’s largest online video hosting site. The stake size of neither deal has been disclosed.
In the four years since it launched, Xiaomi has grown to challenge Lenovo to rank as the largest smartphone seller in China and fourth-largest in the world. However, it has set its sights on becoming an internet company, seeing its buyers as “users” and its phones as a gateway to “an ecosystem” of content, according to its executives.