August 2, 2001 / News Archives
YesAsia.com Deals With EMI, Acquires AngelPop
By Michael Singer
Executives with online Asian entertainment product retailer, YesAsia, say two major announcements have them quite pleased this week.
The San Francisco-based company, which sells music, video, karaoke, games, comic books, magazines, electronics, toys and gifts, Thursday signed a commercial and marketing agreement with the Asian region of EMI Music.
The deal with EMI gives YesAsia the rights to market EMI Asia's music products to consumers and retail stores in North America.
"North America has enormous Asian market potential that is largely untapped, primarily due to the limited network of traditional retail music channels," says EMI Asia Director of Business Development William Hsieh. "We are confident of their ability to assist EMI Asia in reaching consumers here - both online and offline."
The two companies say they will also work to promote EMI Asia artists through a series of marketing campaigns.
"We are profoundly encouraged and pleased by EMI Asia's recognition of the market potential for Asian artists in North America and YesAsia's proven marketing and operational capabilities," says YesAsia COO, David Liu. "We view this relationship as an important milestone in the worldwide popularization of Asian music."
YesAsia has similar partnerships with Sony, Universal Music and Rock Records.
As if that wasn't enough, YesAsia's also announced it is acquiring AngelPop, a competitor that specializes in online shopping for Korean products.
The two companies say they will combine forces and translation technology to target Korean online shoppers and improve customer service.
"The opportunity to further raise the bar for technology and customer service was a big factor in our decision to join the YesAsia team," says AngelPop COO Paul Yoo. "What I envisioned for AngelPop in these areas is already a reality at YesAsia."
The deal also means several cross-merchandising opportunities for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean products now sold at the two sites.
Since the two companies are privately owned, financial details were not made public.
