Cisco to launch $80 million joint venture with TCL

Cisco will invest $16 million in the new firm, holding a 20 percent stake, while TCL will inject $64 million for the rest 80 percent share of the initiative, TCL announced on its website on Friday. TCL said the team-up with Cisco was due to its plan to develop the public enterprise cloud services platform to build on the business potential of cloud computing on the Chinese mainland.

Cisco Systems Inc will establish an $80 million joint venture with Chinese hardware manufacturer TCL Corp to invest in commercial cloud computing services, TCL said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. Cisco will invest $16 million in the new firm, which has not been named and is still being registered, and hold a 20 percent stake, the filing said. TCL will pay $64 million for an 80 percent share. These investments will be made over three stages, each of which will require the approval of both parties. No timeframe for the investments was given.