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Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital sells Taipei property for US$61 million

  • Building in Neihu district sold for HK$475.8 million to a Taiwanese software developer
  • The company has already sold four office buildings in Taipei since 2018

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Next Digital’s offices in Tseung Kwan O. The sale will improve its overall cash position, the company said. Photo: David Wong
Yujing Liu

Next Digital, which owns the Apple Daily newspaper, is selling an office building in Taipei, it said on Tuesday. The sale comes after its founder, media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chi-ying, was charged with fraud in a case that has drawn international attention.

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The company will sell the building in Neihu district for HK$475.8 million (US$61 million) to a Taiwanese software developer, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The sale “will improve the overall cash position of the group for general working capital purposes, as well as for future opportunities that may arise”, it said in the filing. The building, constructed by Next Digital in 2010, has 15,323 square metres of gross floor area, as well as 92 car parking spaces.

The company has already sold four office buildings in the district since 2018, as it struggles to make a profit amid a years-long shift in advertising revenue to online and social media from newspapers globally.

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Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai denied bail in fraud case and ordered to remain in jail

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai denied bail in fraud case and ordered to remain in jail
Lai and two senior Next Digital executives were detained last week and accused of breaching land lease terms by improperly using the company’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O.
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