SCMP picks Catherine So as chief executive, tapping Hong Kong media and tech veteran to run one of Asia’s oldest English newspapers

Catherine So, a Hongkonger who graduated from Harvard University in economics, was most recently the Asia-Pacific managing director of Expedia Group
So will officially replace Gary Liu on July 15 when Liu takes a new role to oversee the growth of Artifact Labs

SCMP

Jiaxing Li

Published: 2:01pm, 15 Jun 2022

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South China Morning Post Publishers Limited (SCMP) has appointed Expedia Group’s managing director Catherine So as its chief executive to lead the 118-year-old Hong Kong newspaper’s business growth.

So, a Hong Kong native, will officially replace Gary Liu on July 15 when Liu takes a new role to oversee the growth of Artifact Labs, a blockchain start-up spun out from SCMP in March to develop non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from the archives of the South China Morning Post.

So graduated from Harvard University in economics, and was most recently the Asia-Pacific managing director of the US online travel company Expedia. She was previously the managing director of Groupon Hong Kong and held different positions at News Corp’s Star TV, AOL Time Warner and Merrill Lynch in her career. Her background in digitalisation, audience development, and content commercialisation makes her the “ideal leader” in a digital news organisation, SCMP said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to have Catherine as our next CEO,” said SCMP’s chairman Joe Tsai, who is also the executive vice-chairman of SCMP’s owner Alibaba Group Holding. “She brings exceptional leadership acumen to the company, and she will drive continued business growth with a deep focus on editorial excellence and user experience.”

Catherine So when she was Groupon’s Hong Kong Managing Director in October 2013. Photo: Fox Woo

“The need for quality journalism has never been higher in today’s complex and polarised world,” So said, adding she is “honoured” to take on the new role. “As a trusted news media company in Hong Kong and around the world, the Post is well-positioned to shape the global dialogue on Greater China and Asia.”

“I will focus on strengthening business fundamentals: growing our global readership base, and expanding commercial opportunities, through both product and technological innovations,” So added.

Gary Liu, Chief Executive Officer of South China Morning Post, at the United States edition of the newspaper’s annual China Conference in New York on December 10, 2019. Photo: SCMP

Liu, who has led the newspaper for five and half years, fundamentally transformed one of Asia’s oldest newspapers into a 21st-century information product that reacted to news events and responded to readers’ preferences in real time.

He gave the newspaper a new logo, a new value system, and steered the Post towards the global stage to become a regional organisation that provides news to a worldwide readership. Editorial and internal management processes were digitalised. Even the newsroom’s look was given an update to resemble a technology start-up more than a newspaper, including a live pub on the editorial floor that serves as a hotspot in the city for social gatherings.

The Post’s monthly active users (MAU) have surged more than 10-fold during Liu’s tenure to exceed 30 million users in 2021, with 38 per cent of them in the United States. The newspaper, headquartered in Hong Kong, has opened news bureaus in Washington DC and New York, Brussels, with correspondents in London and Nairobi, while maintaining one of the largest networks of bureaus and journalists in mainland China among offshore media organisations.

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So would be the second woman to hold the reins at SCMP after Kuok Hui Kwong, the daughter of the former proprietor Robert Kuok, who was chief executive officer from 2008 to 2012. The younger Kuok was succeeded by Robin Hu in May 2012, who stepped down in December 2016 after a yearlong transition period following Alibaba’s purchase of 100 per cent of SCMP.

Before joining SCMP, Liu was chief executive at the New York-based online content aggregator Digg. He previously worked at Spotify and Google.

In a statement, Tsai thanked Liu “for his dedication and contributions.” SCMP will benefit from So’s “deep digital and commercial expertise,” Liu said.