Digital publishing sees solid growth in 2012 (3)

Year of Efforts of capital operation

On November 23, at the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission, the first corporate bond of China's publishing industry - the 2012 bond of Chongqing Publishing Group - was issued publicly. This signifies that China's publishing industry has made substantial breakthrough in financing in the bond market. The fund Chongqing Publishing Group is hoping to raise at this period will be mainly used to develop digital media press platform.

Becoming more competitive and stronger through mergers is an important path for the growth of China's press and publication enterprises. In early 2012, the General Administration of Press and Publication published the Guidelines on Accelerating the Reform and Development of Publication and Media Groups. The Guidelines propose to break regional blockade and trade barriers, support the cross-media, cross-region, cross-industry, and cross-ownership development of media groups, and cultivate numerous large-scale backbone publication media groups that have annual revenue of more than RMB 20 billion Yuan. This kicked off the merger trend in the press and publication industry.

As leader of the publishing industry, Phoenix Media has embarked on acquisition since 2008. In May this year, Phoenix struck again, acquiring Hainan Textbook Publishing Company and changing Hainan Phoenix Xinhua Distribution Company to Hainan Phoenix Xinhua Publication Distribution Company. The company has a registered capital of RMB 569 million Yuan, Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media holding 51 percent of the share.

Zhejiang Daily Media, being the first newspaper corporation that is listed with all its productive assets, has started large-scale mergers and expansion after its backdoor listing. In April, Zhejiang Daily Media announced that it was planning to raise RMB 3.5 billion Yuan to acquire two of SNDA subsidiary gaming companies: Hangzhou Game ABC and Shanghai HF, with RMB 2.5 billion Yuan being private placement fund. In May, Zhejiang Daily Media purchased the 44 percent share of Dongfang Xingkong Enterprise Investment held by Zhejiang Daily Media's parent company Zhejiang Daily Press Group for RMB 260 million Yuan. The company has made equity investments in such areas as digital TV, entertainment and tourism, and education and multimedia, and has invested in film, TV, and animation projects. Zhejiang Daily Media said that the company would add a cultural industry investment platform after it purchased the share of Dongfang Xingkong.