Alibaba Ropes In Expedia Head As SCMP CEO As It Devotes Former Chief To NFT Spinoff

Alibaba Group Holding Limited's BABA The South China Morning Post (SCMP) roped in Expedia Group, Inc's EXPE Asian head, Catherine So, as its new CEO, Bloomberg reports.
So succeeds Gary Liu, who will leave in July to oversee crypto-spinoff Artifacts Lab.
The Harvard alumni So, who's also worked at Groupon, Inc GRPN, Star TV, and AOL Time Warner, will focus on growing the newspaper's global readership and commercial opportunities.
Kuok Hui Kwong, daughter of former owner Robert Kuok, held the role between 2008 and 2012.
Tammy Tam serves as the editor-in-chief of SCMP.
In 2021, China proposed to bar private capital from news operations. The restrictions applicable to domestic investments followed Alibaba's controversial handling of a scandal involving one of its executives.
Bauhinia Culture (Hong Kong) Holdings had expressed interest in the takeover of the English-language newspaper.
Founded in 1903, SCMP was once one of the most profitable newspapers globally, boosted by a large classified job-advertisement section.
Alibaba acquired SCMP from Robert Kuok in 2015 for $354 million.
Lately, SCMP has faced flak for allegedly evading sensitive issues involving Beijing.
Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.34% at $104.87 on the last check Wednesday.