E-commerce group Alibaba confirmed today it will acquire Wandoujia, the China-based mobile app store that counts telecommunications and internet firm SoftBank as an investor, China Daily has reported.
The companies have not disclosed a purchase price but reports yesterday suggested the price would be set at about $200m, a considerable drop from the $1bn valuation at which Wandoujia last raised funding, in 2014.
Launched in 2010, Wandoujia operates an Android app store that initially grew quickly, taking a position as the third largest in China by market share as of 2014.
Since then the company has come up against problems as adjacent groups such as smartphone producers Xiaomi and Huawei establish their own app stores. It was ranked fifth as of the first quarter of 2016, its share having almost halved, according to research firm Analysys International.
Alibaba plans to incorporate Wandoujia’s offering into its mobile internet division. It reportedly offered $1.5bn to buy the company around two years ago but was rebuffed.
SoftBank led the $120m series B round closed by Wandoujia in January 2014, investing alongside DCM and Innovation Works Development Fund. Investment bank Goldman Sachs added an undisclosed amount in March the same year.
DCM had already led the company’s $8m series A round, which also included Innovation Works.