Over the past few years, Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma has been able to attain a media portfolio in China similar to Jeff Bezos in the United States.
However, the Chinese government is feeling threatened by the company’s sway over public opinion in the country and has asked Ma to divest some of its media assets. Alibaba was caught in the crosshairs of the Chinese government after he announced that he was buying the South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper launched 118 years ago in Hong Kong.
In addition to this, Alibaba group backs the New York-listed technology news site 36Kr as well as state-owned Shanghai Media Group. Moreover, the e-commerce platform often focuses on the potential for digital collaboration with publications. Recently, it made a deal with the Shanghai Media Group, an influential financial media conglomerate, to help develop a financial data platform by letting it utilize its data and cloud computing expertise. Alibaba also has substantial stakes in China’s Twitter equivalent, Weibo, and a video site popular amongst Chinese youths, Bilibili.
Concerns regarding the company’s media portfolio started growing after Weibo deleted scores of posts about an Alibaba executive’s controversies last June. As a result of the growing influence of Jack Ma, the Chinese government has already initiated a wave of crackdown on concentrated power in the internet economy. However, we are unsure what assets will Alibaba let go of.
