Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Business
China Presses Alibaba to Sell Media Assets, Including SCMP
Coco Liu and Lulu Yilun Chen
Bloomberg Mon., March 15, 2021, 7:31 p.m.
(Bloomberg) -- The Chinese government wants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to sell some of its media assets, including the South China Morning Post, because of growing concerns about the technology giant’s influence over public opinion in the country, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Beijing expressed misgivings about Alibaba’s media holdings during several meetings dating to last year, said the person, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Government officials are particularly upset about the company’s influence over social media in China and its role in an online scandal, involving one of its executives.
Jack Ma, Alibaba’s co-founder, has been at the center of a government crackdown that began last year, targeting the e-commerce giant and its finance affiliate Ant Group Co. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that China’s government is asking Alibaba to shed media properties.
Ma and Alibaba quietly built up a sprawling portfolio of media assets over the years, spanning BuzzFeed-style online outlets, newspapers, television-production companies, social-media and advertising assets. Alibaba has a major stake in the Twitter-like Weibo and Youku, one of China’s biggest streaming services, as well as other online and print news outlets, including the SCMP, the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong.
The discussion about selling the newspaper began last year, the person said. While no specific buyer has been identified, it is expected to be a Chinese entity.
“Be assured that Alibaba’s commitment to SCMP remains unchanged and continues to support our mission and business goals,” Gary Liu, the newspaper company’s chief executive officer, told employees in an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Representatives for Alibaba in China and the U.S. didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Bloomberg News reported in February that Beijing had grown alarmed about Alibaba’s media holdings after a scandal involving Jiang Fan, then the youngest partner at the e-commerce company. Posts about the scandal began disappearing from social media, including Weibo, drawing the ire of government officials.
China’s internet watchdog penalized the microblogging site for interfering with the spread of opinions. The scale and speed with which the website removed posts rankled government officials, who saw it as crossing a line, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.
“The country must pay attention to and crack down on this, because the power of capital can be used by us but also the enemy,” wrote Chinese commentator Song Qinghui, who contributes editorials to publications including state-backed media.
Regulators were shocked at the extent of the company’s media interests after reviewing its holdings and asked it to come up with a plan to substantially curtail the interests, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Beijing is concerned that Alibaba could use its media assets as a tool to control public opinion, creating a “vicious circle,” the person said. Already, the company’s media has played a role in influencing the general public’s view about the emerging fintech sector, the person said.
Weibo shares fell 2.4% in U.S. trading, while Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares were little changed. Online media outlet 36kr Holdings Inc. slid 1.5% in New York.
The expansive influence of Alibaba-backed media services is seen as posing serious challenges to the Chinese Communist Party and its powerful propaganda apparatus.
Ma is revered in China as one of the country’s most-successful entrepreneurs. But his fortunes have waned since he spoke out against China’s regulatory approach to the finance sector.
Those comments set in motion an unprecedented regulatory offensive, including scuttling plans for Ant’s $35 billion initial public offering and opening an antitrust probe into Alibaba. His media holdings could prove even more problematic.
It isn’t clear whether Alibaba will need to sell all of its media assets, the Journal reported. Any plan that Alibaba comes up with will need approval from China’s senior leadership, according to the newspaper.
Translation
（彭博）- 據一位對件事知情人士說，中國政府希望阿里巴巴集團出售其中一些媒體資產，包括《南華早報》，因為人們越來越擔心阿里巴巴對在該國的民意影響力。。
這位知情人士說，北京在去年的幾次會議上都對阿里巴巴的媒體持懷疑態度。因為這討論是私人的, 他要求匿名。政府官員對於該公司對中國社交媒體的影響力以及該公司在涉及一名高管的在線醜聞中的角色感到特別不安。
阿里巴巴的聯合創始人馬雲（Jack Ma）一直是去年開始的政府鎮壓的焦点，該鎮壓的目標是電子商務巨頭及其金融分支機構螞蟻集團（Ant Group Co.）。《華爾街日報》早些時候報導說，中國政府正在要求阿里巴巴放棄媒體資産。
多年來，馬雲和阿里巴巴悄悄地建立了龐大的媒體資產組合，涵蓋了BuzzFeed風格的在線商店，報紙，電視製作公司，社交媒體和廣告資產。阿里巴巴在類似推特的微博和優酷
(中國最大的流媒體服務之一), 以及其他在線和印刷新聞媒體（包括香港最重要的英語報紙《南華早報》）都擁有大量股份。
這位知情人士說，有關出售報紙的討論始於去年。雖然尚未確定具體買家，但預計它將是中國機構設立的組織。
該報紙公司首席執行官Gary Liu在一份被彭博新聞社查看過的內部備忘錄中對員工說：“請放心，阿里巴巴對南華早報的承諾沒有改變，並將繼續支持我們的使命和業務目標。”
阿里巴巴在中國和美國的代表沒有回應置評請求。
彭博新聞社（Bloomberg News）2月份報導稱，在涉及阿里巴巴當時電子商務公司最年輕的合夥人蔣凡的醜聞之後，北京對阿里巴巴的媒體持有量感到震驚。有關醜聞的帖子開始從包括微博在內的社交媒體中消失，這激怒了政府官員。
中國的互聯網監管機構懲罰微博網站，以其進行干預意見的傳播。一位知情人士當時說，該網站刪除帖子的規模和速度令政府官員感到不安，他們認為這是跨越界限的。
中國評論家宋慶輝寫道：“國家必須重視並嚴厲打擊這行為，因為資本的力量既可以被我們利用，也可以由敵人利用。”中國評論員宋慶輝常為包括國家支持的媒體在內的出版物提供社論。
《華爾街日報》援引知情人士的話說，監管機構在審查了該公司的持股後，對它在媒體的利益感到震驚，並要求該公司提出一項大幅削減其利益的計劃。
這位知情人士說，北京擔心阿里巴巴可能利用其媒體資產作為控制輿論的工具，從而造成“惡性循環”。這位知情人士說，該公司的媒體已經在影響公眾對新興金融科技領域的看法中發揮了作用。
微博股價在美國交易中下跌了2.4％，而阿里巴巴的香港股票變化不大。在線媒體公司 36kr Holdings Inc. 在紐約下跌1.5％。
由阿里巴巴支持的媒體服務的廣泛影響, 被視為對中國共產黨及其強大的宣傳手段構成了嚴峻挑戰。
馬雲是中國最成功的企業家之一，在中國享有盛譽。但是自從他發表反對中國對金融業的監管方式的講話後，他的運氣已逐漸減弱。
馬的言論引發了前所未有的監管攻勢，包括取消螞蟻金服350億美元首次公開募股的計劃，以及對阿里巴巴的反壟斷調查。他的媒體資產可能會帶來更多問題。
上週，中國遏制科技巨頭影響力的運動擴大了，對馬化騰旗下的騰訊控股有限公司處以罰款。彭博社報導，頂級金融監管機構將騰訊視為繼壓制螞蟻金服後的下一個監管目標。
據《華爾街日報》報導，目前尚不清楚阿里巴巴是否需要出售其所有媒體資產。該報稱，阿里巴巴提出的任何計劃, 都需要得到中國高層領導的批准。
So, it is common knowledge that inside China, anything suspected to be a potential threat to CCP leadership will be suppressed. One obvious example is the fact that there is no free press, and there is no access to international mass media websites in the Internet.
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