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Outlet profile

South China Morning Post

Hong Kong-based, pro-China tilt

Owned byAlibaba Group, a Chinese technology conglomerate, which acquired the outlet in 2016 from Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok
FundingMix of digital and print advertising (roughly 60% of revenue), paid subscriptions via a metered paywall reinstated in 2020 (roughly 30%), and events/other revenue (roughly 10%); operates under the Alibaba corporate umbrella
On the administrationmixed

Background

Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, the South China Morning Post became Hong Kong's dominant English-language daily during the British colonial era and built a reputation as a regional newspaper of record. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation held a stake from 1987 before selling it in 1993 to Robert Kuok, a Malaysian billionaire with wide business interests in China. In December 2015, Alibaba Group—controlled by Jack Ma—announced a roughly US$266 million acquisition of the paper, completing the deal in April 2016. Alibaba stated the goal was to give China fairer coverage in English-language media and removed the paywall to broaden global readership, though it reinstated a metered subscription model in 2020. Since the acquisition, outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Lowy Institute have raised concerns about editorial self-censorship and a softening of critical coverage of the Chinese government. Academic research has supported those concerns, finding the paper's framing of China-related stories shifted noticeably after 2016. The paper remains influential as one of the few major English-language outlets based in Hong Kong with wide regional distribution across Asia.

Sources

  1. South China Morning Post – Wikipedia
  2. Vale, South China Morning Post as Alibaba ushers in media ownership, mainland style – Lowy Institute
  3. South China Morning Post – Media Bias/Fact Check
  4. South China Morning Post – AllSides Media Bias
  5. South China Morning Post finds revenue success by focusing on core – WAN-IFRA
  6. South China Morning Post returns to a subscription model after 4 years – The Drum
  7. How Kompas and SCMP are balancing subscriptions and advertising – WAN-IFRA
  8. Jack Ma's Alibaba completes acquisition of South China Morning Post – Asia Times

Profile compiled 2026-06-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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