Alibaba buys SCMP for undisclosed sum

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has agreed on a HK$2.06 billion ($265.8 million) deal to acquire the South China Morning Post and other media assets of SCMP Group Ltd 0583.HK , the newspaper group said in a statement on Monday.

The deal’s billed as combining Alibab’s online expertise with the Post’s editorial chops.

Tsai expressly reassured readers that it would actively promote plurality – addressing concerns that the takeover would curb South China Morning Post’s editorial independence.

Alibaba’s Executive Vice Chairman Joseph C. Tsai said the company is grounded in China and that it has influences in many aspects of the country’s economy. “Our vision is to expand the SCMP’s readership globally through digital distribution and easier access to content”.

The announcement, following weeks of speculation, sees the retailer take control of the 112-year-old English language publication as well as licences to the Hong Kong editions of Esquire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar. That decision’s been widely interpreted as eroding democratic values in Hong Kong, and generated lengthy protests in the territory.

The move is reportedly part of an effort to improve China’s image in the West and combat what company executives call the “negative” portrayal of China in the Western media. Hong Kong evolved from a barren rock to a global city…

In November, the publisher said it had received a preliminary approach by an unidentified third party interested in its media properties, and media outlets had reported Alibaba was the potential buyer.

Perhaps above all, the SCMP purchase shines one more spotlight on Alibaba’s head-scratching acquisitions.

“Jack Ma would view an acquisition of the South China Morning Post as a national service”, Schloss said. SCMP Group’s annual revenue topped $129 million for three straight years through 2014, with adjusted operating profit of $21 million last year, according to company filings.

Asked about concerns the deal may lead to a reining in of the Hong Kong paper’s freedoms, Alibaba Vice Chairman Joe Tsai told the SCMP that the e-commerce company would let editors decide the direction of coverage for any story.

Alibaba’s Ma also follows Amazon’s Bezos – who bought The Washington Post in 2013 – among Internet tycoons snapping up storied brands at a time print media struggles to compete with Web-based competitors for advertising.