If so all that will be left is the HKFP which will be very easy to pick off once the SCMP is neutered.
NY academic Alvin Cheung has posted the following to the China Law List
A company owned by the Chinese government is working on an offer to acquire Hong Kong’s influential South China Morning Post, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bauhinia Culture (Hong Kong) Holdings Ltd. is interested in a deal with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that would see the city’s most prominent English-language newspaper join its stable of media properties, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Alibaba has come under pressure from the Chinese government to divest some of its media assets, including SCMP, Bloomberg News reported in March.
A sale to Bauhinia would potentially assuage the government’s concerns, as it is fully state owned. It also bolstered its presence in Hong Kong’s media scene in April when it agreed to buy a stake in Phoenix Media Investment Holdings Ltd., owner of local broadcaster Phoenix TV.
[…]
The Liaison Office — the Chinese government’s main office in the former British colony — owns Bauhinia via its Sino United Publishing Holdings Ltd. unit, according to government records from March. General Manager Wen Hongwu is ex-secretary general of the Liaison Office, and chairman Mao Chaofeng is the former executive vice governor of China’s southern province of Hainan.
