China orders Jack Ma to dispose of its media assets

Beijing/New Delhi, March 16 : Taking its war against billionaire Jack Mas empire to a new level, the Chinese government has reportedly asked his conglomerate Alibaba to dispose of its media assets.
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”.
Alibaba expanded its footprint in the media sector by acquiring the South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper launched 118 years ago in Hong Kong.
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.
“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.
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.