Trust us, says Jack Ma when asked about SCMP editorial independence

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma has promised to preserve the editorial independence of the South China Morning Post, which is among a portfolio of media assets he has bought recently.

Commenting for the first time since his e-commerce flagship spent HK$2.06 billion for the 112-year-old English-language daily and related media assets under the umbrella of SCMP Group last week, Ma said there was no basis to think the newspaper would lose its editorial independence after the change of ownership.

He was quoted by The Wall Street Journal Asia yesterday, on the sidelines of the World Internet Conference in Zhejiang, asking why people thought the Post would lose its independence if Alibaba owned it.

"Trust us," he said.

When asked about critics who said Alibaba felt pressure from mainland leaders to modify the Post's coverage, he said: "Those people think too little of us."