Chinese billionaire Zhang Xin supports international streaming and film ventures by investing in Mubi and joining the board

Zhang Xin has joined the board of Mubi, an arthouse distributor, and invested in the business, which has helped it expand internationally.

Through her New York film firm Closer Media, Chinese billionaire real estate tycoon Zhang Xin has invested an undisclosed sum in arthouse distributor and international streamer Mubi, the streaming service announced Friday. Zhang will join Mubi’s board of directors as well.

“We are very happy to have Zhang Xin join our board of directors,” said Efe Cakarel, the founder and CEO of Mubi.

She is a remarkable leader who has shown unmatched vision and tenacity in creating an amazing business from the ground up. As we develop and innovate, I personally hope to gain knowledge from her experience, strategic acumen, and entrepreneurial zeal, all of which I greatly appreciate.

After becoming wealthy and changing the cityscape of Beijing and Shanghai with the real estate company SOHO China, which she co-founded with her husband Pan Shiyi, Zhang changed course in 2022, leaving her position as CEO of SOHO to start the film production and financing company Closer Media in Manhattan.

The Tony Goldwyn-directed film Ezra, which starred Bobby Cannavale, Robert De Niro, and Rose Byrne, as well as Alex Gibney’s documentary about Elon Musk and Oscar-nominated Bhutanese writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s The Monk and the Gun, are among Closer’s projects.

“To be involved in this innovative business right at the forefront of the rapidly evolving film industry” is how Zhang described her investment in Mubi. I am thrilled about Mubi’s innovative strategy for reaching audiences around the world with top-notch content, and I am eager to contribute to the expansion of the business.

In 2007, Cakarel started Mubi as a streaming service with an emphasis on foreign arthouse films, but in recent years, the company has been pushing more and more into the theater industry.

It oversaw the US premiere of The Substance, a body horror satire directed by Coralie Fargeat that has brought in over $16 million at the US box office. Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla are some other recent releases.

Future projects include Jim Jarmusch’s co-production Father Mother Sister Brother, which stars Adam Driver, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, and Vicky Krieps, and Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, which stars Josh O’Connor.