Apple Daily sister brand Next Magazine with 100k subscribers ceases ops

As the management of Apple Daily is expected to announce the company's final day on Friday, many of its employees have tendered their resignation in recent days. Meanwhile Apple Daily's sister publication Next Magazine has just announced to cease operation.

According to multiple reports, Apple Daily has lost a chunk of its employees. Following the police raid, a mass exodus was seen in the company and its teams managing financial news, English coverage, breaking news, and video content branded as Apple Action News have gone. On its website, the financial news section launched the final news on 22 June, saying that the section "will stop updating at the midnight of 22 June." The final English-language article of Apple Daily was published in the afternoon of 22 June too. 

Also, its regular newscast at 9:30 pm bade farewell to audiences on Monday too, as the anchor said the newscast on Monday was the last episode. 


Meanwhile, Apple Daily's sister publication Next Magazine has just announced on its Facebook page on the morning of 23 June that it will cease operation. The management said the magazine adopted the subscription model in 2019 with a goal to acquire 60,000 subscribers.

Although it reached this goal and boasted more than 100,000 subscribers eventually, the publication still failed to make money. 

The board of directors at Next Digital, parent company of Apple Daily and Next Magazine, said on Monday that the final edition could be on Saturday if the company failed to convince the government to release some of its frozen assets worth of HK$18 million (US$2.32 million). 

Apple Daily's editor-in-chief and four directors were arrested last week for alleged collusion with foreign forces. They included publisher of Apple Daily and CEO of parent company Next Digital Cheung Kim-hung, Apple Daily editor-in-chief publisher Ryan Law Wai-kwong, Next Digital chief financial officer Royston Chow Tat-Kuen, Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man, and Apple Daily digital director Cheung Chi-wai. Hong Kong's national security police previously cited more than 30 articles by Apple Daily calling for sanctions against the city and mainland China as evidence of a conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.


Related articles
Apple Daily reportedly compelled to shut 'in a matter of days'
Apple Daily increases print copies to 500,000 after second police raid
Over 30 Apple Daily media articles allegedly created in collusion with foreign forces