IQiyi, the Netflix of China, posts first year of profits and says it's 'excited' about Sora-like AI

BEIJING — Chinese video content and streaming company iQiyi CFO Wang Jun said he is "excited" about potential new business opportunities with the emergence of OpenAI's text-to-video tool Sora.

Speaking exclusively to CNBC on Thursday, Wang said such tools can help iQiyi tell stories more creatively, and that internally, it is exploring the text-to-video space though it is not working with Sora.

But Wang indicated the tech's capabilities aren't yet necessarily able to offer people what they want. "We are waiting for the moment," he said.

OpenAI, the creator of artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT, unveiled Sora earlier this month. Widespread public access to the tool, which appears to create cinematic scenes based on text prompts, remains limited.

Wang's comments come as iQiyi on Wednesday reported it swung to a profit in 2023 for the first time since it listed in the U.S. in 2018. For nearly every year since, the company posted annual losses of $1 billion or more.

After a major effort in 2022 to improve performance, iQiyi came close to breaking even. Net income finally turned positive in 2023, with a total of $271 million.

IQiyi's strategy is not "audacious" Wang said, but rather a meticulous approach integrated with big data analysis using technology and AI.

The first step was to attract the best talent in China's film industry, Wang said.

That involved moving IQiyi's headquarters in late 2019 from a tech hub on the northwestern outskirts of Beijing to a central location in the eastern part of the city, closer to where more creatives live or already work.

The new office is in a popular neighborhood called Sanlitun, which is home to an Apple flagship store, an upscale outdoor shopping complex and many restaurant and