From Taiwan to Myanmar, the business interests of Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai
- Arrested Hong Kong tycoon’s companies extend beyond the media and at one time included hopes for property deal in Yangon
- Next Digital was founded in 1990 and has faced revenue pressure in recent years
The arrest of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and the police raid on the newsroom of his tabloid-style Apple Daily have turned the spotlight onto the tycoon’s business empire.
Lai – one of the city’s most outspoken critics of Beijing – has reshaped Hong Kong’s media landscape through his company Next Digital, which has also grown influential in neighbouring Taiwan. He has also previously explored potential property investments in Myanmar through another of his companies.
Next Digital, founded in Hong Kong in 1990, has faced growing pressure in recent years, bleeding revenue in the midst of a slower economic climate, while battling vocal threats and advertisement boycotts from pro-Beijing figures.
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Hong Kong media mogul and opposition activist Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law
Lai’s media empire first expanded beyond Hong Kong when Next Digital entered the Taiwanese market with a sister publication of its gossipy Next Magazine in 2001, with a sold-out first edition featuring the ex-girlfriend of then-Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian’s son-in-law.
Despite controversy over the sensationalist reporting style, and two violent attacks on the Next offices, Lai launched the Taiwanese version of Apple Daily in 2003. Next Digital publications were soon among the bestselling in Taiwan’s boisterous media scene, shifting the landscape towards a more provocative reporting style and popularising paparazzi-style exposes of public figures.
In the face of more organised ad boycotts in Hong Kong, Lai in 2007 said Next Media wanted its Taiwan operations to make up half its revenue in the following financial year, after suffering HK$200 million (US$25.8 million) in losses per year.
But the company continued to suffer significant losses in Taiwan as well, including the rejection of a cable TV licence for Next-TV, launched in Taiwan in 2009.