Alibaba Group Holding Limited would procure SCMP to establish its foothold in the media industry
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has decided to purchase the Hong Kong based publication South China Morning Post alongside other associated media resources as the web tycoon Jack Ma has followed the footsteps of Jeff Bezos who has played a role in reviving a 100 years old print media company.
Though financial details were not revealed, the Hangzhou based company revealed on Friday that the acquisition might include the leading newspaper and affiliated enterprises including the Hong Kong versions of Elle, Esquire alongside other magazines and recruitment. The Chinese electronic commerce organization also stated it would scrap the publication’s web pay wall and those editorial verdicts would be made "in the newsroom, not in the corporate boardroom."
The SCMP, once the industry’s envy in terms of profitability, has lately joined together mastheads in battling to attract promoters amid the growth of free publications across the internet. Hong Kong’s premier English-language paper has not been changed since media mogul Rupert Murdoch spun of majority of his shares to the Malaysia billionaire Robert Kuok in 1993.
Beijing based investment and advisory company CastleHill Partners LLC’s managing partner Peter Schloss stated “Jack Ma is such an innovative and visionary figure that the future of the South China Morning Post under his control may actually be somewhat brighter, Robert Kuok has lost interest in it. Jack would come in and invigorate it to move it firmly in the digital space.”
For the e-commerce organization, the procurement of the newspaper would play a role in enhancing its expanding media empire. In June, the corporation made a statement that the acquisition of stock in one of the largest economy’s most powerful business media enterprises might help the company establish an entertainment and media corporation known as CMC Holdings.
Last month, the company decided to purchase video service provider Youku Tudou to provide more streaming content to the internet users in China through its ability to control Youtube like website, and also made an investment in the most recent “Mission Impossible" film of Paramount Pictures through its Alibaba Pictures Group division.
Jack Ma also pursues the Seattle based company Amazon’s Jeff, who took over the Washington Posts 2 years ago- amongst internet magnates cracking at time published media struggles to battle with Web based rivals for promotion.
According to news on Alibaba, one of the founders of Facebook, Chris Hughes, purchased a major share in the New Republic Magazine three years ago. Axel Springer SE,the Germany based media organization headed by Mathias Doepfner, bidded for the London based publication Financial times previously this year, which was spun off to the Japanese based Nikkei for $1.3bn.
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