Youku's former president is cooperating with police investigation into alleged economic issues

On the morning of December 4, according to multiple media reports, former Youku President Yang Weidong is cooperating with the police investigation due to financial problems. Ali Pictures Chairman Fan Luyuan will concurrently serve as Youku President; Ali Entertainment said that Ali has always had a clear attitude towards such matters and will never compromise. Youku responded that all information is subject to police disclosure, which also confirmed that Yang Weidong is indeed cooperating with the police investigation.

Yang Weidong's last public appearance was at the 6th China Internet Audiovisual Conference held in Chengdu from November 28 to November 30. Some media asked several internal employees of Dawenyu, and they all said that they had just received the news this morning and said that "it happened suddenly." Yu Yongfu, former chairman and CEO of Alibaba Entertainment Group, also expressed shock on Weibo.

It is worth mentioning that on November 26, Alibaba Group announced a new round of organizational structure adjustments, showing that due to the expiration of Yang Weidong's rotation term, Fan Luyuan, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Pictures and CEO of Damai.com, will serve as the new rotating president of Alibaba Greater Entertainment.

According to Tencent, the investigation into Yang Weidong has lasted for at least a month, and the so-called "economic problems" may involve more than 100 million yuan, with the main problem being the income and expenditure of variety shows. Although the apparent reason is the natural result of Yang Weidong's one-year rotation, the coincidence in timing has inevitably led to various speculations.

Previously, Liu Chunning, former vice president of Alibaba Group (in charge of Ali Digital Entertainment at the time) and former senior executive of Tencent, was also taken away by Shenzhen police for investigation. On April 21, 2016, Liu Chunning's case of suspected bribery by non-state employees was heard in the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen. In court, the prosecutor accused Liu Chunning of taking advantage of his position to accept bribes in two online video copyright purchases during his employment at Tencent Technology Shenzhen Co., Ltd., and seeking benefits for others.

Alibaba's Greater Entertainment was officially established on October 31, 2016, and has been in constant turmoil. In November last year, Yu Yongfu resigned as chairman of the Greater Entertainment Group and president of Greater Entertainment and AutoNavi. Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong announced that Alibaba's Greater Entertainment would begin to implement a rotating president system based on the class committee, which was composed of Yang Weidong, Fan Luyuan, Zhu Shunyan and others. Yang Weidong was the first rotating president.