China orders Jack Ma to dispose of its media assets

<p>
Taking its war against billionaire Jack Ma's empire to a new level, the Chinese Government has reportedly asked his conglomerate Alibaba to dispose of its media assets.</p>
<p>
According to a The Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Chinese officials are more "concerned about the technology giant's sway over public opinion in the country".</p>
<p>
Alibaba expanded its footprint in the media sector by acquiring the <em>South China Morning Post</em>, an English-language newspaper launched 118 years ago in Hong Kong.</p>
<p>
The company also has notable media holdings in mainland China, including technology news site 36Kr, state-owned Shanghai Media Group, stakes in the Twitter-like Weibo platform and several popular Chinese digital and print news outlets.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/economy-news/fate-of-jack-ma-dampens-spirit-of-china-s-private-sector-66522.html">Fate of Jack Ma dampens spirit of China's private sector</a></strong></p>
<p>
"Alibaba has also set up joint ventures or partnerships with powerful state-run media like Xinhua News Agency and local government-run newspaper groups in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces," the report said on Monday.</p>
<p>
Angry at Ma's public criticism of Chinese financial regulators last year, the company scuttled the initial public offering (IPO) of his fintech giant Ant Group.</p>
<p>
China's top market watchdog began investigation into alleged anti-competition practices by the e-commerce giant Alibaba and also laid out "rectification plan" for Ma's fintech venture.</p>
<p>
The agenda was that Ant Group should return to its roots in payments and bring more transparency to transactions.</p>
<p>
Ma later disappeared from the public view, triggering speculation of him going "missing". He was seen only in January when a video of him appeared on Chinese social media.</p>
<p>
<strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/economy-news/jack-ma-surfaces-again-after-3-month-hibernation-63242.html">Jack Ma surfaces again after 3-month hibernation</a></strong></p>
<p>
According to the WSJ report, Chinese regulators are "appalled at how expansive Alibaba's media interests have become and asked the company to come up with a plan to substantially curtail its media holdings" the people said.</p>
<p>
"The government didn't specify which assets would need to be unloaded".</p>
<p>
Alibaba was yet to react to the report.</p>
<p>
Alibaba's holdings in publicly listed companies had a combined market value of more than $8 billion.</p>
<p>
"That includes a roughly $3.5 billion stake in Weibo Corp. and a nearly $2.6 billion stake in Bilibili Inc., a video platform that is popular among younger Chinese people," the report mentioned.</p>
<p>
<em> (IANS)</em></p>