Mure Dickie of the Financial Times interviewed Long Xinmin, a “minister at the press and publishing administration” who confirms that GAPP is against newspaper groups raising capital from the market. Nothing to do with the news you understand, it’s all about clamping down on corruption. Excerpt:
Newspaper shares ban sets back liberalisation
China has barred local newspapers from publicly issuing shares following a corruption scandal last year at IPO pioneer Beijing Youth Daily, according to the sector’s top regulator.
However, the government was “encouraging” book publishing companies to list shares on stock markets in mainland China and Hong Kong, said Long Xinmin, minister at the press and publishing administration…
…In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Long blamed the freeze on new newspaper listings on problems at Beijing Youth Daily, a leading Chinese newspaper. It listed its commercial operations in Hong Kong in 2004 under the name Beijing Media.
The arrest of a number of Beijing Media’s advertising managers and staff for “economic problems” had infuriated investors and hurt the company’s share price, Mr Long said…
…At the time, Shi Zongyuan, Mr Long’s predecessor as head of the general administration of press and publications, told the FT that Beijing had suspended liberalisation because of the role international media played in “colour revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan…
…Mr Long stressed that Beijing was trying to give private capital an expanded role in publishing and distribution.
“We encourage and promote listings in the publishing sector,” he said.
The FT reported in March that Liaoning Publishing Group had been given permission to become the first Chinese publisher to list in Hong Kong…
…He noted the recent back-door listing of Shanghai Xinhua Media, a distribution venture, and plans for an IPO by Sichuan Xinhua Winshare Chainstore, a distributor based in western China…
In another story filed by Mure Dickie, The FT reports that Baidu is planning a move into the Japanese market. Your correspondent’s favorite sentence of the article:
“In Japan, Baidu will also lack the indirect support of Chinese internet censors, who have disrupted or blocked Google’s services.”