(Yicai Global) Feb. 2 -- China's popular video website AcFun faces severe operational difficulty due to failure of its financing plan. Its website is currently unavailable and the firm cannot pay off the two-month salaries of nearly 200 employees. Some of its employees have already left the company and plan to collectively demand their unpaid salaries.

AcFun's server, provided by Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., had been scheduled to expire on Jan. 31 in the absence of any payment for the renewal fee. Today, users can no longer reach the website. AcFun's official social media account posted a crying face emoji and said that the company hopes to survive for another "500 years," reported Tencent's financial news arm, QQ Finance.

Another Alibaba Group subsidiary, Yunfeng Capital, was reported by business magazine Caijing last December to plan to buy 20 percent equity in Acfun, which would have put the valuation of the platform at CNY1 billion (USD159 million). However, no such deal took place despite AcFun claimed that the negotiations were under way. "We have not received any notice regarding ending the negotiations," said an executive of AcFun.

Founded in 2007, AcFun is the first barrage video website in China. It offered a full array of films and television programs as well as animation products for young users, while supporting users to share their original videos. However, due to lack of official license, the regulatory authorities ordered it to remove majority of its videos, which accounted for 70 percent of its total contents, which has dealt a heavy blow to its operations.

Another big threat to AcFun came from its rival Bilibili, which was founded in 2009 by a user of the former. In contrast to the troubled AcFun, it won investment from the internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. in 2015. Currently, it plans to get listed in the US market with a valuation of USD3 billion although some media reports also cite difficulties it faces due to copyright issues.