The cash-strapped monthly magazine Asia Inc has been sold to its management for US$2 million, a long-awaited move that further breaks up the publishing empire in Hong Kong built up by Thai media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul.
The price tag includes the obligation to repay about US$800,000 in back pay to staff who have not been paid for three months and the intellectual property of the magazine.
It does not, however, include the amount owed to various vendors.
The staff, in turn, are given the option to convert the debts to shares in the new company, Golden Opportunity International.
Editor-in-chief William Mellor said the debt-to-equity conversion would run up to 31 per cent of the shareholding.
He hoped that the stack of back pay would be cleared in instalments by the end of the year.