If the deal goes through, Ma would be following a growing group of Internet tycoons investing in big media brands.
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Discussions are at an advanced stage, it quoted two unidentified people familiar with the matter as saying. While the size of the stake or any financial details has not been disclosed, the signing ceremony is expected to be announced soon.
The SCMP Group, which also contains other businesses such as magazines and printing, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and reported net profits of HK$208.7 million ($26.9 million) in the first half of 2015. When asked whether he’s interested in buying the SCMP, Ma said in an interview this month that he’s “watching a lot of companies right now”.
SCMP was once the world’s most profitable company but failed to cope up with the advancement in technology that caused a shift in reading from traditional newspapers to online.
Alibaba declined to comment on the report when approached by AFP.
A premier English-language broadsheet, the company has remained in the hands of Robert Kuok since 1993 when he purchased a large stake from Rupert Murdoch. The year prior, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes bought a majority stake in the New Republic. In 2013, a reporter for the newspaper reportedly stepped down after claiming Ma had made remarks in support of Beijing’s violent crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Early this year its shares were suspended from the public market in Hong Kong, for failing to have at least 25% of its shares held by minority investors.
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Ma getting involved with the newspaper could evoke eyebrows in Hong Kong.
