AFP, Hong Kong :
Chinese internet giant Alibaba will pay US$266 million for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the newspaper said Monday, in an acquisition that has sparked fears the paper will lose its independent voice.
The deal comes at a time when concern over press freedom in Hong Kong is growing after attacks on journalists, reports of pressure on editorial staff from authorities and increasing self-censorship.
Alibaba “has agreed to purchase the media business of the (SCMP) Group for a cash consideration of HK$2,060,600,000”, the newspaper said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
SCMP Group also owns the Hong Kong editions of magazines Esquire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar.
The Chinese firm announced the purchase on Friday, saying it would use its “digital expertise” to provide “comprehensive and insightful news and analysis of the big stories in Hong Kong and China”.
In a letter to the newspaper’s readers following the announcement of the sale, Alibaba executive vice chairman Joe Tsai vowed the SCMP would be “objective, accurate and fair” and have “the courage to go against conventional wisdom”.
In an interview published on the SCMP website, however, Tsai accused western media of bias against China, saying that Alibaba would “see things differently” — a statement likely to stoke critics’ concern.
Chinese internet giant Alibaba will pay US$266 million for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the newspaper said Monday, in an acquisition that has sparked fears the paper will lose its independent voice.
The deal comes at a time when concern over press freedom in Hong Kong is growing after attacks on journalists, reports of pressure on editorial staff from authorities and increasing self-censorship.
Alibaba “has agreed to purchase the media business of the (SCMP) Group for a cash consideration of HK$2,060,600,000”, the newspaper said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
SCMP Group also owns the Hong Kong editions of magazines Esquire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar.
The Chinese firm announced the purchase on Friday, saying it would use its “digital expertise” to provide “comprehensive and insightful news and analysis of the big stories in Hong Kong and China”.
In a letter to the newspaper’s readers following the announcement of the sale, Alibaba executive vice chairman Joe Tsai vowed the SCMP would be “objective, accurate and fair” and have “the courage to go against conventional wisdom”.
In an interview published on the SCMP website, however, Tsai accused western media of bias against China, saying that Alibaba would “see things differently” — a statement likely to stoke critics’ concern.
