Caixin

Caixin Media Company Ltd. (Chinese: 财新传媒) is a Beijing-based media group providing financial and business news and information through periodicals, online content, mobile apps, conferences, books and TV/video programs. Caixin Media publishes four magazines, Century Weekly, China Reform, Comparative Studies and Caixin - China Economics & Finance.

Company structure

The Editor-in-Chief is Hu Shuli, a former Knight Fellow in journalism at Stanford University. Previously, Hu founded Caijing magazine. Yang Daming acts as deputy chief editor, and Wang Shuo is managing editor. The business side is headed by Daphne Wu as executive president.[1]

History

Departure from Caijing Magazine

Caixin Media was established in January 2010, created subsequent to the departure of Hu Shuli and the majority of the editors and reporters at Caijing Magazine in November 2009.[2] The original staff of Caixin Media is entirely employees that left Caijing.

Caijing is a financial news magazine "which blazed a trail for other media groups by exposing corruption, the cover-up of the SARS epidemic and the construction flaws that led to the collapse of schools during the Sichuan earthquake".[3] It was founded by Hu Shuli in 1998 and was managed by the Stock Exchange Executive Council (SEEC[4]) (中国证券市场研究设计中心(联办)) whose chairman is Wang Boming, The magazine's ability to push the boundaries in news coverage largely depends on the political protection afforded by SEEC, its well-connected backer.[5]

In November 2009, Hu Shuli resigned from Caijing along with a large portion of Caijing's journalists after weeks of conflicts with Caijing's controller over issues including "its coverage of sensitive current affairs stories".[5] The magazine had been well known for its investigative reporting and in-depth business articles; but its backer, according to departing employees, wanted it "to move away from investigative journalism towards straight coverage of business, in the mode of Fortune".[5] The pressure to focus on finance had mounted substantially since the explosion of ethnic violence in Xinjiang in July 2009; reporters at Caijing received orders from SEEC to remove sensitive stories, despite SEEC's promises not to interfere in editorial decision-making.[3] Except that, there were also disputes over wages.[5]

Jeremy Goldkorn, founder and editor of Danwei, a China-focused blog, called Hu's departure from Caijing "a big loss for SEEC".[5] "No one will take Caijing seriously now," he said. "Hu Shuli is almost half the brand, if not more."[5]

Establishment of Caixin

Two months after splitting with Caijing, Hu Shuli established Caixin Media and became the executive editor of a new publication called Century Weekly.[3]

Caixin Media was invested by various parties. Hu secured a 40-million yuan investment from Zhejiang Daily Press Group, the state-owned newspaper conglomerate, for a 40 percent stake in Caixin.[6] Zhejiang Daily had sought to sell a 19.77 percent stake in Caixin for 56 million yuan in 2011, but later withdrew the sale.[6] In July 2012, Hu won another shot in the arm when Tencent, one of China's largest internet firms, became Caixin's newest stockholder with an undisclosed amount of shares.[6] In December 2013, China Media Capital (CMC), a government-backed, 5 billion-yuan investment fund that counts some of the country's largest state-owned media and financial firms as its shareholders, said that it had purchased 40% stake in Caixin Media from Zhejiang Daily Press Group, thus becoming the largest shareholder.[6] Li Ruigang, the chairman of CMC, said, "My fund and I are very honored to become a part of Caixin"; "Our common goal is to build a China-based financial media platform with international influences."[6]

Introduction of paywall

Caixin Media runs caixin.com and its mobile app for free since the beginning. On 6 November 2017, it announced to implement a site-wide paywall, becoming the first major Chinese publication to put its online content behind a paywall.[7] As of 28 June 2018, readers are charged RMB 398 for a year's access to Caixin Weekly print magazine, or RMB 498 for digital magazine and website access.[8]

In an interview with Sohu News, Caixin's then managing editor Wang Shuo hinted that the transition to a subscription model was because the rise of social media was impacting their advertising take – as is the case across the world.[7] In early 2018, Hu Shuli acknowledged that online revenues triggered by paid subscription are not yet considered "substantial."[9]

China Purchasing Managers Index

"The Caixin PMI is a closely-watched gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, which focuses on smaller and medium-sized companies, filling a niche that isn't covered by the official data."

— CNBC January 3, 2016

In August 2015, Caixin Media Co Ltd announced that the China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) had declined to 51.5. This was the beginning of a decline that continued into December 2015. , PMIs are economic indicators derived from monthly surveys of companies is produced by the financial information firm, Markit Group, which compiles the survey and conducts PMIs for over 30 countries worldwide. From 2010 to 2015 HSBC had sponsored Markit's China PMI, but that relationship ended in June and Caixin stepped in.[10]

Since China is the world's largest metal consumer and producer,[11]:11 and " the world’s second largest economy",[12] the China PMI is closely watched.[10][11][13]

When Caixin PMI came in weaker in late December 2015 fresh fears over China's economic growth were triggered and markets around the region responded.[14] China's CMI had fallen to 48.2 from 48.6 in November, 48.3 in October, 50.5 in September and 51.5 in August.[11][13]

On Friday, 1 January 2016 The Guardian reported that China's factory activity continued to decline, overseas demand for goods fell and export orders for Chinese manufacturers fell.[12] Stock markets which had already responded by mid-December with "metals [experiencing] a broad-based drop on the weakness of manufacturing activity in China,.[11]

Reporters

Washington DC desk – Zhang Qi[15]

Board of Trustees

To ensure independent journalism, Caixin has set up a Board of Trustees composed of respected intellectuals and academics that are independent of Caixin’s board of directors and management, and have the final say in setting editorial principles, as well as the appointment or dismissal of the editor-in-chief.

Chairman of Board of Trustees

Wu Jinglian: Research Fellow for the Development Research Center of the State Council

Trustees

Xie Ping: Professor of the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University

Qian Yingyi: Dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University

Xu Hong: Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University

Xiao Meng: Executive Editor of Comparative Studies Magazine

Advisor of Board of Trustees

Lawrence H. Summers: Economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary

References

  1. ↑ Ramzy, Austin (10 November 2009). "China's 'Most Dangerous Woman' Gets a New Forum". TIME. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "From Caijing to Caixin – Don't Die Before You're Dead". The China Times. 16 October 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Watts, Jonathan (30 December 2009). "Chinese editor Hu Shuli takes over news magazine". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "SEEC Media Group Limited". www.seec-media.com.hk. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Branigan, Tania (9 November 2009). "Editor of controversial Chinese magazine resigns after conflict with backers". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "New boss, and backing, for Hu Shuli's Caixin Media group". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Fact check « Week In China". Week In China. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "信息雾霾难以忍受，到财新呼吸真相". www.caixin.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "Editor Hu Shuli steps aside, not down, at China's Caixin magazine：The Asahi Shimbun". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  10. 1 2 Yao, Kevin (30 June 2015). Raybould, Alan, ed. "Caixin to take over China Markit PMI sponsorship from HSBC". Beijing. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report – December 2015" (PDF). OPEC. 15 December 2015. p. 107. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  12. 1 2 Allen, Katie (1 January 2016). "Slowdown in Chinese manufacturing deepens fears for economy: Factory activity cools for fifth month running as overseas demand for Chinese goods continues to fall". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  13. 1 2 "Caixin China General Services PMI", Caixin Purchasing Managers’ Index, retrieved 4 January 2016
  14. ↑ Shaffer, Leslie (3 January 2016). "Weak Caixin PMI revives China slowdown fears". CNBC. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "John Zogby, John Zogby Strategies – The U.S. Midterm Elections: First Look". fpc.state.gov. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
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