Elsie Cheung steps down after a decade of leading digital transformation at the Post, Hong Kong’s oldest newspaper
- Cheung’s 20 years at the Post have coincided with a shake-up of print media by digital advertising and social media
- Departing COO has given her full support and respected editorial independence throughout the newspaper’s digital transformation, Editor-in-Chief Tammy Tam says
Elsie Cheung Hoi-sze, who is among the few female business leaders in Hong Kong’s media industry, is stepping down as chief operating officer of the South China Morning Post, having helped the newspaper go digital and global over the past decade.
“Hong Kong has been through a lot these past few years. I believe I have done my best to be a leader who can adapt and be nimble to address the circumstances,” Cheung said in an interview. “But I also feel the need to take a step back and see which other meaningful pursuits can use my experience and expertise to the fullest. I have learned a lot working at the Post and I am grateful to my colleagues who have always been good friends and colleagues.”
Cheung leaves her post on July 30. Her departure from the Post is significant because she has held her own in a city where almost 90 per cent of directors at listed companies are men. Her career of more than 20 years is also remarkable as it has coincided with print media’s most tumultuous period, one where digital advertising and social media combined to upend the century-old industry.
“Elsie has been an integral part of our transformation over the past few years, successfully guiding the Post through several fundamental market shifts, including our recent evolution into a digital-first advertising platform,” said Gary Liu, chief executive of the Post. “She is one of Hong Kong’s foremost executive pioneers and most celebrated leaders and it has been my privilege to lead this company with Elsie. She has groomed and developed extraordinary leaders at SCMP, and her counsel and wisdom will be missed.”
Cheung’s career and long association with this newspaper began in the 1980s. Her first job was selling classified advertising at the newspaper. The choice was easy, she said, as the Post was the only English newspaper she had read since primary school.
In those days, before the advent of the World Wide Web, classified advertisements were the signposts to the market place, as well as the biggest revenue earners for media companies. Job vacancies, services, properties for sale or rent, and goods sold were all advertised in newspapers across the city, for up to HK$300 (US$39) for a few words that could fit on the back of a postage stamp.
“Those were the good old days for the printed newspaper,” Cheung said. “In those days, a simple way of increasing advertising revenue was to just install an extra fax machine to receive more advertisement orders.”
03:03
SCMP moves to a new home
Cheung leaves a steady ship. The Post, founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-Tai and Alfred Cunningham and is Hong Kong’s largest and oldest English newspaper, reported a strong 30 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue for the first quarter of this year.
“The media business is very challenging and this will continue, not just in Hong Kong but also globally,” Cheung said. “The Post is in a unique position being an English, globally minded newspaper and we can still grow our audience.”
“Elsie is such a wonderful partner to work with,” said Tammy Tam, the Post’s editor-in-chief. “As the COO, she understands well newsroom operations and has given her full support and respect to editorial independence all these years, throughout the newspaper’s digital transformation. She will always be dearly missed.”
Cheung left the Post in 1991 to broaden her experience and worked with Television Broadcast Limited (TVB), Hong Kong Telecom and Sunevision, before returning to take up senior roles in the newspaper’s advertising department in 2001.
She became the company’s chief operating officer in 2011, and has since helped steer the Post from a print newspaper focused on Hong Kong to a digital multimedia company with more than 50 million active monthly users worldwide and 197 million monthly page views.
She also developed Morning Studio, the Post’s branded content team, which uses video, infographics and animation to promote brands for clients. In her honour, a collaboration hub on the 20th floor of the newspaper’s office, designed in the fashion of a canteen, was named Elsie’s Cafe.
Cheung, who is not on the board of the Post, sits on the newspaper’s top executive committee.
“I am glad that companies are now being urged to have more women on their boards and in leadership positions. It is well proven that diversity leads to better, more enlightened decision-making. At the Post, we have done quite well in gender and other forms of diversity,” Cheung said.
“But representation should also go beyond just percentages and numbers. That’s just the first step. Women in leadership positions sometimes speak up, but they are not always heard. Women can and should be more proactive, but we need male leaders who are also willing to listen. We need to be true co-partners on this journey,” she said.
04:30
Inside the SCMP printing press
Cheung will continue to strongly believe in the future of the Post’s vision under the leadership of chief executive Liu to elevate thought, and the newspaper’s mission to “lead the global conversation about China.”
“Like Hong Kong, the Post has been through many changes these past few years. We tried many things and then we were affected by the protests and the pandemic. Now, as we return to a new normal, my only wish is for newspaper is to stay focused [on its mission],” she said.
