2015年，中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴集團經歷了相當不平凡的一年。在一年多之前，這家公司創出了全球最高募資紀錄，但由于市場對中國經濟增速放緩存在擔憂，阿里巴巴集團的股價下跌了25%左右。

不過，這并沒有阻止住阿里巴巴前進的步伐。消息人士最新透露，阿里巴巴集團及創始人馬云當前正考慮收購位于香港的《南華早報》。

本月初，《中國日報》曾報道稱，阿里巴巴集團正考慮從嘉里集團手中收購南華早報集團的控股股權。不過彭博社最新報道稱，收購南華早報集團的并不是阿里巴巴集團，而是該公司創始人馬云。彭博社援引消息人士的話稱，“談判已進入預付款階段，”預計雙方最快將于本周宣布這一交易，但不會公布收購金額。馬云當前的個人凈資產約為220億美元。

如果馬云最終真的收購了《南華早報》，那無疑將和亞馬遜CEO杰夫?貝索斯的做法異曲同工。

2013年，貝索斯曾以個人名義出資2.5億美元收購了《華盛頓郵報》。當時，該報社部分員工和讀者一開始對貝索斯的收購感到驚訝，但是在收購完成之后，《華盛頓郵報》不僅改善了財務狀況，還受益于它與亞馬遜金牌會員的捆綁政策，在數字領域擴展了市場。

《南華早報》曾歸屬于新聞集團，一度是全球最賺錢的報紙之一。1993年，馬來西亞富商郭鶴年通過旗下嘉里傳媒買下南華早報集團的控制權并持有至今，目前，郭鶴年約控制集團73.99%的股權。在過去的幾年中，《南華早報》的訂閱用戶和營收一直在持續下滑。2013年，其利潤下滑25%之后，該公司的股價曾終止交易。而在最近半年時間里，《南華早報》已有包括總編輯在內的35名員工離職。

幾乎以肯定，如果馬云收購了《南華早報》，他肯定也會像貝索斯一樣，把自己的經營理念和構想輸入到這家公司當中。這也許會有起死回生的功效，但在香港本地市民看來，無論該報紙是被阿里巴巴集團所收購，還是被馬云個人納入麾下，都并非積極信號。原因在于，馬云與內地政府關系過去親密。

實際上，這已經不是馬云及其阿里集團首次投資媒體。從2013年入股新浪微博開始，阿里系力量已經投資了包括科技媒體虎嗅、36氪，財經媒體第一財經、商業評論，綜合媒體無界、封面，影視媒體文化中國、華誼兄弟、光線傳媒，在線視頻媒體優酷土豆等眾多媒體公司，其媒體帝國已若影若現。（財富中文網）

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Alibaba, the Chinese conglomerate founded by Jack Ma, has had quite a year—it went public a little over a year ago in the largest initial public offering ever recorded, with a value of more than $25 billion. Since then, the share price has declined by about 25% on concerns about the weak Chinese economy, but Alibaba BABA 1.70% has not stopped growing. And now, according to a number of reports, either the company or Ma are in talks to acquire the South China Morning Post.

Earlier this month, China Daily reported that Alibaba was in discussions to acquire SCMP Group, the company that publishes the South China Morning Post, from majority shareholder Kerry Group, a Malaysian conglomerate.

But a more recent report from Bloomberg News, says that two unnamed sources told the financial news service that Ma, not Alibaba, is in discussions to buy the Hong Kong-based newspaper. Bloomberg describes the talks as “at an advanced stage.” The sources said that a deal of unknown value could be announced as early as this week. Ma’s net worth is estimated at $22 billion U.S.

If the Alibaba founder does acquire the Morning Post—which at one time was the most profitable newspaper in the world—he would be following in the footsteps of other billionaire tech moguls such as Jeff Bezos, the Amazon AMZN 1.58% founder and CEO who acquired The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes also bought the venerable U.S. magazine The New Republic, although his ownership has not been without controversy.

Some Washington Post staffers and fans were initially taken aback by the Bezos acquisition, but since the purchase, the paper has improved its financial health and has even expanded its online presence, in part through deals that bundled access to the Post with Amazon Prime memberships.

But like Bezos, Ma will have to come up with some bundling and/or revenue-generating ideas of his own if he buys the Morning Post, because the once-powerful paper has seen better days.

Once owned by News Corp., the Morning Post was sold in 1993 to Malaysian financier Robert Kuok, via his holding company Kerry Group, and has seen its revenue and readership slide substantially in the past few years. In 2013, after SCMP reported its earnings had fallen by more than 25%, its stock was suspended from trading. Most recently, over the past six months, more than 35 staffers left the newspaper —including the editor-in-chief.

Regardless of whether the Morning Post is bought by Ma or Alibaba, the deal may not be looked on positively by some Hong Kong residents.