Jack Ma paper chase is test of newsprint's appeal

Hong Kong

ALIBABA'S pursuit of the South China Morning Post is a test of the enduring appeal of newsprint. The company founded by Jack Ma is in talks to buy the SCMP Group's media businesses, according to a person familiar with the situation. The 112-year old title's earnings are under pressure, and there's scant financial logic for a deal. But as fellow e-commerce boss Jeff Bezos showed when he bought the Washington Post in 2013, newspapers have trophy value.

Alibaba has made no secret of its media ambitions: the e-commerce giant this month agreed to buy the 82 per cent of Youku Tudou it didn't already own, valuing the Chinese video site at US$5.2 billion. Yet it's far from clear how the former colony's leading English-language newspaper fits in.