CRI听力:Discussion on corporate news of the week

Online video site iQiyi.com, controlled by leading search engine Baidu, has said it has raised over 1.5-billion US dollars in new funding through a convertible note issue.

Baidu led the group of investors, providing 300-million US dollars in new funds.

According to iQiyi CEO Gong Yu, the streaming giant targets to become a world-class entertainment company by leveraging Baidu's artificial-intelligence technology and content ecosystem.

The company will reportedly also put more focus on premium content, by creating more original content like Netflix.

Meanwhile, Ant Financial Services Group has said it will invest in South Korean electronic-payments venture Kakao Pay, as it seeks business tie-ups outside China to complement its popular Alipay electronic payment service.

The South Korean tie-up will see Ant, the former financial unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba, invest 200-million US dollars in Kakao Pay.

Under the agreement, Ant will offer a wide range of its digital financial services in South Korea through the new platform.

Ant began to engage in oversea transactions as early as 2015, and has currently closed seven deals.

It was reported that they are seeking a fund-raising target of 3 billion US dollars to further expand its oversea business.