Alibaba’s media empire grows, acquires struggling South China Morning Post

The newspaper was founded in Hong Kong in 1903. Photo credit: Canadian Pacific.

China’s Alibaba confirmed moments ago that it has “entered into a definite agreement to acquire” the struggling Hong Kong-based newspaper the South China Morning Post (SCMP). It includes all the assets of the SCMP Group, which includes stakes in some web startups. The financial terms are not disclosed. (Update three days after publishing: it transpires the deal was worth US$266 million, reports Bloomberg. Plus, my colleague thinks the acquisition will prove to be a big mistake for Jack Ma and Alibaba.)

“The South China Morning Post is unique because it focuses on coverage of China in the English language. This is a proposition that is in high demand by readers around the world who care to understand the world’s second largest economy,” said Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group, in a statement. “Our vision is to expand the SCMP’s readership globally through digital distribution and easier access to content.”

Alibaba’s buy-out of the SCMP is the latest in many big moves into media and content by the ecommerce titan. A few months ago, Alibaba paid out US$4.2 billion to acquire China’s top video site company, Youku Tudou. It runs the Youku and Tudou sites, which combine user-generated content with licensed movies and TV series. It also has a film studio.

See: 5 big reasons Alibaba is spending over $4b to acquire a video site

Pro-China

The newspaper was founded in 1903. Alibaba is acquiring it from Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok’s Kerry Media, which bought the controlling interest from News Corp in 1993. The SCMP has a paywall, but its slowly rising digital revenues are not making up for tanking print sales.

“By the time you read this, you will have heard the news that Alibaba Group is acquiring the South China Morning Post,” writes Tsai in a letter to readers of the paper to be published tomorrow, thereby acknowledging that everyone will have already read the news for free via Facebook or Twitter.

He goes on: “With an age difference between the two companies of nearly one hundred years, this is truly a mix of the old and the new. The SCMP is resonant with the history, heritage, and culture of the region, just as Alibaba has its place in the new age of digital technology.”

Media baron: Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma.

The SCMP has seen readers defect in recent years after, as Quartz described it recently, increasingly conservative and pro-China reporting under the wing of Kuok, who has substantial business interests in mainland China. That pro-China streak is unlikely to vanish under Alibaba’s control.

“This may solve the paper’s funding problems but further erodes its editorial independence,” explains Tom Grundy, editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong Free Press, to Tech in Asia. “We were founded as a direct response to the press freedom issues facing the city and this latest development underlines the very real need for an independent news alternative in Hong Kong.”

Tsai continues in his letter to the sub-100,000 readership of the SCMP: “So, you’re probably wondering why. Why is Alibaba buying into traditional media, considered by some a sunset industry? The simple answer is that we don’t see it that way.” He adds that SCMP will continue to focus on “editorial excellence” and keeping readers’ trust as it adapts to fit in with fast-evolving new media and the way news is read via social media. No specific plans are revealed.

The SCMP last month announced a new editor-in-chief amid a mass exodus of staff, including everyone from its new international edition.