After one of its lesser-known characters went popular in China, the Japanese business behind the Hello Kitty brand negotiated a licensing arrangement in the country.

Sanrio said a unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba will have exclusive rights in China to create and sell items of its 26 characters.

Sanrio’s imp-like rabbit Kuromi made an appearance in a popular Chinese social media video, prompting the company to strike an agreement.

Sanrio’s stock rose about 14% in Thursday’s Tokyo session.

Alifish, Alibaba’s licensing and entertainment arm, will “further increase the Sanrio brand and character value in the Chinese mainland market,” according to a statement from the firm.

Hello Kitty is not truly a cat
The 92-year-old head of Hello Kitty has spoken his final goodbyes.
The contract comprises 26 characters that Sanrio has produced including Hello Kitty, her closest buddy My Melody, and the villainous Kuromi.

An influencer who dressed as Sanrio characters while dancing on Kuromi’s stage helped the brand gain notoriety in China earlier this year.

The video on Douyin, the version of TikTok available in China, was posted by Helenoftroy, who has more than 14 million followers.

Kuromi’s birthday is on Halloween and she is described as a “tomboy” who is “really quite girly”. According to Sanrio’s official website, “She enjoys writing in her diary and reading romance novels.”

Although Hello Kitty exemplifies the Japanese culture of “kawaii” or cuteness, the business has maintained that she is a British schoolgirl called Kitty White who lives just outside London.

Almost 50 years after its founding, the company is still raking in the dough.

Prosecco to plimsolls are among the items offered in 130 countries throughout the world under the trademarked hair bow of the mouthless cartoon.

Sanrio has been licensed for amusement parks and cafés, while in 2018 a Japanese railway corporation slapped the image on its bullet train, painted in pink and white.

However, Sanrio, whose business has been decreasing for some years, was adversely damaged by the coronavirus outbreak.

Measures to slow the spread of Covid-19 led to the temporary shutdown of the firm’s theme parks and retail.

Despite the limitations, Sanrio’s sales in China increased by 39% to 4.7 billion Japanese yen ($34.4 million; £28,4 million) in the year to March of the current year. Its profits in the country grew 19 percent during the same period.

By 2020, the corporation underwent the first change in leadership in its six-decade history.

That came when its founder Shintaro Tsuji, then aged 92, handed up leadership of the company to his grandson Tomokuni Tsuji.