Alibaba’s Affilate Ant To Purchase Stake In Caixin Media Company
The financial affiliate of Alibaba Ant is interested in buying a share in the Caixin Media company to benefit from its financial news and research
Alibaba would make a very smart investment by purchasing a share in the Caxin Media company which is based in China. Media has reported that the online trading giant’s affiliate Ant financial is talking to purchase a share in the Chinese magazine publisher. At first, it will make many observers remember Jack Ma’s smart move to purchase the South China Morning Post for $266 million.
But there are a number of differences as the pedigree of Caixin is financial and quite different. It’s Editor in Chief Hu Shuli is a very respected commentator and journalist. Cagazine Magazine was founded by her in 1998 before quitting in 2010 to set up Caixin, which is counting itself as well-respected Century Weekly magazine amongst its stable.
The fact that a lot of staff followed Shuli to join Caixin by leaving Caijing proves us that she commands a lot of respect in the fraught and fractious media landscape of China. To understand her editorial bent, one needs to have a look at the Century Weekly’s first edition under her leadership. Its cover story on the upcoming inflationary risks and another news article that hinted at the governance- spurred executives’ reshuffle at a country’s publicly traded state owned banking organization.
Ant, the holding enterprise for the Alipay platform of Alibaba would not just purchase the publication for the financial news reported by it. It’s extensive spectrum of details is a real draw, and probably what lured Tencent in a funding round which earlier took place.
Caixin stated Wednesday that it is negotiating for another funding round, and refused to reveal the investors. 38% of Ant is owned by the Hangzhou based company and controlled by its founder Jack. In 2015 the name of Ant was changed from Alipay to reflect the desire of Jack to take the company beyond a payment service provider in a better manner and towards a fully fledgd online trading business.
It’s full name — Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group — indicates at what Jack is building. Beyond Alipay, the financial affiliate lends money to small businesses, developing a credit rating service provider Sesame Credit by using the data gathered from the businesses of Alibaba and operating a money market fund Yu’E Bao. Vice Chairman of Alibaba Joesph Tsai even claimed that a credit score provided by Sesame is capable of speeding up visa processing.
In a short span of time, Caxin has moved forward from reporting inflation to offering important economic indicators, financial research and a statistics database. Litter wonder Jack is interested in information which is the most valuable commodity of China.
Reuters has reported that Caixin wasn’t immediately available to share its views regarding the talks and Ant refused to comment.
