Next Digital

Next Digital Limited (Chinese: 壹傳媒有限公司), previously known as Next Media Limited, founded by Jimmy Lai, has 4,041 employees (as of 30 Sep 2013) and is the largest listed media company in Hong Kong.

Next Digital Limited
壹傳媒有限公司
Public
Traded asSEHK: 282
IndustryMedia
Founded15 March 1990 (1990-03-15)
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
Jimmy Lai, Founder
Cheung Kim Hung, chief executive officer
Ting Ka Yu, Stephen, COO and CFO
Ip Yut Kin, Executive Director
RevenueHK$1,660.8 million
Number of employees
4,041 (as of 30 Sep 2013)
Websitenextdigital.com.hk
Next Digital
Traditional Chinese壹傳媒有限公司

Subdivisions include Next Media Interactive. The corporation is known for introducing tabloid-style journalism into Hong Kong and Taiwan that set trends in both markets. Apple Daily was the first newspaper to use the massive graphics, bold headlines and full colour pages now common to all best-selling papers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Starting from 20 October 2015, the English name of the company has been changed from Next Media Limited to Next Digital Limited.[1]

Political position

Next Media publications are also known for highly sensationalised articles which attract a wide range of readers, including critics. Next Media has often taken a clear and sometimes proactive support for pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong. Some companies with ties to China never advertise in any papers or magazines owned by Next Media.

Controversy

The bold style of journalism seems to trigger constant troubles with the triads with incidents of criminal damages at the offices of Next Media. Apple Daily and its parent company Next Media are thought to be pioneer of paparazzi and yellow journalism in Hong Kong. A notable incident happened in 2006 when Gillian Chung, a member of singing group Twins, was shot changing clothes at the backstage by spy camera installed by a subsidiary magazine of Next Media. The case triggered debated over paparazzi acts in Hong Kong and regulation of paparazzi was considered.

Key people arrested

On the 10th August 2020, the founder of Next Digital which owns Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai was arrested by Hong Kong Police on early monday for alleged collusion with foreign powers according to executive, Mark Simon on Twitter[2]. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that "“The arrest of media tycoon Jimmy Lai bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s National Security Law would be used to suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Jimmy Lai should be released at once and any charges dropped.”"[3] Xinhua News Agency also stated that according to Hong Kong police's announcement, 7 people aged 39 to 72 were arrested on suspicion of violating the new security law. According to Hong Kong media reports, the arrested suspects included Jimmy Lai (Founder of Next Digital Limited), Cheung Kim Hung (CEO of Next Digital Limited), Chow Tat Kuen, Royston (Executive Director and CFO of Next Digital Limited).[4]

Hong Kong publications
  • Apple Daily – Published daily, one of Hong Kong's largest circulation newspapers.
  • Next Magazine – Published on Wednesday evenings, one of Hong Kong's largest circulation news and entertainment magazines.
  • Easy Finder – A teen focussed entertainment magazine.

Monday Book – A set of four magazines sold together for HK$12 on Monday mornings that are more thematically male and commerce focussed.

  • Face – Gossip, entertainment and fashion
  • Ketchup – Gadgets, gaming and mobile
  • JobFinder – Jobs and recruitment magazine (sales assistant-level jobs)
  • AutoExpress – Used cars, auto insurance, dating advertisements, car license plates for sale.
  • Trading Express – Classified ads for products, small companies, second-hand watches.

Friday Book – A set of three magazines sold together for HK$12 on Friday mornings that are more thematically female and leisure focussed. Next Media has ceased to hold any shares of these three magazines in the end of 2008 and the editorial affair of these magazines has tied-up with TVB Weekly (the official magazine of Television Broadcasts Limited and owned by a joint venture between Malaysian media conglomerate company Astro All Asia Networks plc (Astro) and Albert Yeung's Emperor Group) in early 2009.

  • Eat and Travel Weekly – Sold to Astro in November 2006.
  • Sudden Weekly – Women-oriented entertainment magazine. Sold to Astro in November 2006.
  • Me – A cosmetics and fashion magazine. Founded by Astro in December 2006.

Hong Kong websites

The Atnext.com network is the No. 1 online Chinese new, information and current events portal from Hong Kong and reaches more than 2 million users per month, audited by Neilsen//Netratings.[5]

Vertical/community portals In addition to original exclusive content and social networking tools, these sites aggregate content from all other sites.

  • Lady – Female focused portal with strong community
  • Travel – Traveler site
  • Education – education guide for students of all levels
  • Motor – Car vertical covering auto reviews and more
  • Life – lifestyle guide on everyday city living
  • Racing – a subscription-based horse racing guide focused on HK and Macau races (HK$1,888 per year)
  • Soccer – soccer fan's guide to everything soccer
  • Health – a vertical channel provide rich information on medical and health

Taiwan publications
  • Apple Daily – Published daily, one of Taiwan's largest circulation newspapers
  • Sharp Daily – A free daily newspaper
  • Next Magazine – Published on weekly, one of Taiwan's largest circulation news and entertainment magazines
  • Me (Taiwan version) – A weekly magazine

Structure of Next Media

The top management committee of the company is the Board. The Board is responsible for overseeing the successful of Next Media and devising the company's future strategy. The Board delegates the running of Next Media's day-to-day operations to carefully chosen Executive Directors and Senior Management. The Board looks to the Management to ensure it is apprised of all significant developments that may affect the company and its operations.

There are four committees established by the Board, granted for different kinds of duties.

  • Executive Directors: for the purpose of approving issues and allotment of shares
  • Audit Committee: mainly to assist the Board in its oversight of the integrity of the Company’s financial statements; the Company’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; the external auditor’s qualifications and independence; and the performance of the Company’s internal audit function and external auditors.
  • Remuneration Committee; to review and develop policies in relation to the remuneration of directors and senior management of the Company; to make recommendations to the Board from time to time as may be necessary in relation to such policies.
  • Ad hoc Sub-committee; made up of the financial heads of all major operation subsidiaries.

Subsidiaries
  • Apple Daily Limited
  • Apple Daily Online Limited
  • Apple Daily Printing Limited
  • Cameron Printing Company Limited
  • Database Gateway Limited
  • Easy Finder Limited
  • Easy Finder Hong Kong Marketing Limited
  • Easy Media Limited
  • Eat and Travel Weekly Company Limited
  • Next Media Animation Limited
  • Next Magazine Advertising Limited
  • Next Magazine Publishing Limited
  • Next Media Group Management Limited
  • Next Media Hong Kong/Publication Publishing Limited
  • Paramount Printing Company Limited
  • Rainbow Graphic & Printing Company Limited
  • Sudden Weekly Limited
gollark: It's a shame we have not reached the cool™ point where whiteboards can trivially and cheaply be computers or something, so you can subtly erase unwanted parts remotely.
gollark: There must be some way to erase whiteboards remotely.
gollark: Erase it.
gollark: That sure does rapidly print Stop and some errors.
gollark: Or just get good and encode/decode TLS by hand.

See also
  • Media in Hong Kong
  • Newspapers of Hong Kong
  • List of Chinese companies
  • Next Media Animation

References
  1. "CHANGE OF COMPANY NAME, CHANGE OF STOCK SHORT NAME, CHANGE OF COMPANY WEBSITE, FREE EXCHANGE OF SHARE CERTIFICATES AND ADOPTION OF NEW COMPANY LOGO" (PDF). NEXT DIGITAL. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  2. https://twitter.com/HKMarkSimon/status/1292600033473228800 - Via Twitter - Revieved on 10/08/2020 Tweet states: "Jimmy Lai is being arrested for collusion with foreign powers at this time."
  3. https://cpj.org/2020/08/hong-kong-police-arrest-apple-daily-founder-jimmy-lai-under-new-national-security-law/ - Via Committee to Protect Journalists Retrieved 10/08/2020
  4. Net, Xinhua (10 August 2020). "Li Zhiying was arrested on suspicion of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law". Xinhua Net. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  5. Welcome to Pixel Media – Asia's leading interactive media sales network
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