October 17, 2012 – Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英), head of Next Media Ltd., told employees at the company’s Taipei headquarters yesterday that he is leaving Taiwan for good.
“This is not a place for me. I have no regrets. This is life. You try something and you have to bear the consequences. Failure is also part of life,” Lai told Taiwan Next Media employees who lined up to get his autograph and take photos with him.
When asked by a reporter from Next TV Broadcasting Ltd., Next Media’s TV arm in Taiwan, whether he will come back, Lai answered in English: “I won’t be back.”
“Take care, keep up the good work … This society needs you,” Lai said as he signed autographs.
Lai’s comments came hours after Formosa Plastics Group confirmed that its president, Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵), agreed to join Jeffrey Koo Jr., former vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co., in buying the Taiwan media outlets of Next Media Ltd., a Hong Kong-based group.
“There is a deal,” said a senior executive at the Formosa Plastics Group’s administrative office on condition of anonymity.
But the deal still has to be approved by the board, the executive added.
Local media reported Tuesday that Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒), son of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co. Chairman Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松), asked Wang and a Singapore-based private equity fund to join him in buying Apple Daily, Next Magazine, Next TV and Sharp Daily for NT$17.5 billion (US$599 million).
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2012/10/17/357922/Next-Medias.htm