Internet portal Tom.com has decided to buy a 49 percent stake in a Taiwan publishing venture for NT$1.33 billion (US$40.5 million), the company announced yesterday at a Hong Kong press conference.
The purchase is said to be pending finalization of a planned August merger between the two Taiwanese entities, PC Home Publishing Group (
PHOTO: AP
Tom.com's acquisition of the Taiwan venture is aimed to help the Hong Kong-based Internet firm build a Chinese-language media empire in the region. PC Home publishes 18 magazines and Cite owns 19 publishing houses.
Together, "the two publishing groups sold around 13 million magazines and books last year," Chinese-language TV reported, quoting Jan Hung-tse (
Jan, who was in Hong Kong yesterday to witness the establishment of the partnership, also published Taiwan's first online newspaper the Tomorrow Times (明日報). The paper closed down on Feb. 21, a week after its first anniversary, because of a lack of funds.
The new venture will have a paid-in capital of NT$2 billion and Tom.com will first finance NT$553.11 million of the purchase by issuing about 23.9 million shares at HK$5.51 per share to shareholders of PC Home and Cite.
Tom.com will pay in cash for the remaining NT$748.33 million and is planning to list the merged entity as soon as possible after its establishment, the company said.
Tom.com is controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), whose business horizons also includes global shipping company Cheung Kong Enterprise (長江實業) and Hutchison Whampoa (黃浦和記).
Li is also well known for his strong ties with high-ranking Beijing officials. Last year, Forbes magazine proclaimed Li to be the 20th richest man in the world with a personal net worth of US$11.3 billion.
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