By Tyler Durden
Hong Kong’s most globally visible and popular English language newspaper South China Morning Post could come under Chinese government control, as within the past days it’s emerged that its owner Alibaba Group is in talks with Bauhinia Culture Holdings, a Chinese state-backed firm.
The talks which were widely reported at the end of this past week are secretive, with an Alibaba spokesperson later denying that there’s any intent of a sale. SCMPâs CEO Gary Liu and the media organization’s co-founder Joe Tsai sent a letter to employees after the reporting which originated in Bloomberg saying there are currently no plans for a change in ownership, denying the story.
But it’s well-known that Alibaba has of late come under intense pressure from the Chinese government over a number of its media assets, also amid Jack Ma’s own muzzling by Beijing following the great CCP tech crackdown which began in late 2019.
