South China Morning Post

South China Morning Post

SCMP front page on 15 August 2014
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Alibaba Group
Editor	Tammy Tam
Founded	6 November 1903 (41340 issues)
Headquarters	Hong Kong
Website	scmp.com

The South China Morning Post (also known as SCMP or The Post), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong English-language newspaper and Hong Kong's newspaper of record. The journal was founded by Australian-born revolutionary Tse Tsan-tai and British journalist Alfred Cunningham (formerly with China Mail, Hong Kong Daily Press and New York Sun) in 1903. The first edition of the paper was published on 6 November 1903. The journal's circulation has been relatively stable for years – the average daily circulation stands at 100,000.

It was owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation until it was acquired by real estate tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993. On 11 December 2015, it was announced that Alibaba Group would acquire the media properties of the SCMP Group, including the South China Morning Post. On 5 April 2016 Alibaba Group completed the acquisition.

South China Morning Post Ltd was founded by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham in 1903. The first edition of the paper was published on 6 November 1903.

From its founding, during the Qing dynasty (Ching dynasty) until 1913, one year after the establishment of the Republic of China, it was known, in Chinese, as 《南清早報》 (Naamcing Zoubou, lit. South Qing Morning Post). In 1913, its Chinese name was changed to 《南華早報》 (lit. South China Morning Post), and has remained as such since then. The Chinese name of Sunday Morning Post is 《星期日南華早報》 (Singkeijat Naamwaa Zoubou lit. Sunday South China Morning Post).

In November 1971, it was listed on the . It was privatised by News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch, in 1987, and relisted in 1990.

Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok's Kerry Media bought the controlling interest – a 34.9 per cent stake – from News Corp in October 1993 for US$375 million. His son, Kuok Khoon Ean, took over as chairman at the end of 1997. Kuok Khoon Ean's sister, Kuok Hui Kwong, was named chief executive officer on 1 January 2009. Kuok launched a general offer for the remaining shares in September 2007, and increased his stake to 74 per cent at a total cost of HK$1.63 billion ($209 million). It was delisted in 2013 when the shares' free float fell below the required 25%.