Alibaba Nears Deal to Buy South China Morning Post

Quartz: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Hong Kong newspaper the South China Morning Post are expected to sign their a merger agreement before Christmas. Alibaba plans to purchase the newspaper division of the SCMP Group in order to boost its media division, which includes the Youtube-esque Youku Tudou, the Bloomberg-esque CBN, and many other media properties. Alibaba, the company, not Jack Ma, the founder, is said to be the driving force behind the deal.