Hong Kong Tycoon Jimmy Lai's Next Digital To Stop Operating From July 1: Report

The company is the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed last week.

Hong Kong media group Next Digital, owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai, will cease operating from July 1 after the company's assets were frozen as part of a national security investigation, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Next Digital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed last week after its newsroom had been raided by 500 police officers investigating whether some articles breached the security law. Beijing imposed the legislation in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020. It punishes acts deemed by China to be subversive, secessionist, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.