TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Singapore businessman Joseph Phua (潘杰賢) said Tuesday (Aug. 30) that he was launching a “Next Apple News Network” for Taiwan without any relations to the previous Apple Daily or to Hong Kong businessman Kenny Wee (黃浩).
Taiwan’s Apple Daily announced a takeover in June, but the deal was plagued by suspicions that capital from China might be involved. The website stopped publishing a printed newspaper edition in May 2021 after 18 years.
At a news conference Tuesday, Phua said that throughout the process, he had only communicated with Wee, but that his legal and financial teams had reached the conclusion that an agreement with the Hong Kong businessman was unlikely.
His news organization, scheduled to go online Thursday (Sept. 1), would employ 96% of the more than 200 staff of the old Apple Online, CNA reported. Phua said that salaries would be adjusted, but that the signatures of the staff on the contracts to join his network represented a measure of acknowledgment.
The Singapore businessman estimated the project would need NT$300 million ($9.85 million) to NT$400 million per year. Phua said he had been required to launch the new company within four months after finding out upon his return to Taiwan in April that the original plan for a takeover would not work. Staff had spent only two weeks on the new website to be ready by Sept. 1, he added.
Phua said his new company would not use any data or assets from the original Apple and stick to a policy of no contact with the other company. Staff would receive new computers and cameras, preventing them from bringing in data from the other company, while Phua promised not to interfere with editorial policies, the report said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said it had received Next Apple’s application for a trademark, but considering its current workload, it might take five months before a decision is reached. Concern will likely focus on the similarities between the two companies’ logos, which both feature a red apple on a blue background, CNA reported.