Activists pump up Hong Kong media stock 1,000% after its pro-democracy founder was arrested

Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

• A Hong Kong media stock rose over 1,000%, as pro-democracy activists piled into the company’s shares in support of its arrested founder, Jimmy Lai.
• Shares of Lai’s firm, Next Digital, were the third-most traded in Hong Kong markets on Tuesday after tech giant Tencent and web-based retailer Meituan Dianping. 
• The firm’s flagship newspaper, Apple Daily Hong Kong, increased printing of its copies to 550,000 from 70,000 driven by an “overwhelming response” by people who lined up to buy it after Lai’s arrest. 
• As an expression of solidarity, activists are finding new ways to protest against the national security law that undermines Hong Kong’s freedoms.
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A Hong Kong media stock jumped by more than 1,000%, after its staunch pro-democracy founder Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile arrest under the Chinese government’s new draconian security law. 

Shares of Lai’s media firm, Next Digital, hit their highest level since September 2008 on Tuesday, as activists started an online campaign to encourage others to support him.

The publisher’s shares surged on Tuesday and closed at HK$1.10 ($0.14) after quadrupling on Monday. The rise in the price of the stock helped drive its valuation to over HK$2.6 billion ($335 million).

After news about the arrest first broke, the firm’s shares slumped 17% to a record low of HK$0.075 ($0.0097).

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Next Digital, previously known as Next Media, issued a statement late Tuesday that said “it is not aware of any reasons” for the surge in price and volumes.

It was the third-most traded stock in Hong Kong on Tuesday after tech giant Tencent and online retailer Meituan Dianping. 

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71-year-old Lai, who is the controlling shareholder of the firm, is the highest-profile person to be arrested along with other pro-democracy activists and people in the media. The office of his Apple Daily newspaper were raided on Monday over allegations of collusion with foreign forces. 

Lai’s firm is known to be one of the only remaining defenders of media freedom in the Chinese-ruled city. 

The stock’s record gain symbolizes how Hong Kong’s activists are using different methods of protest against the national security law that undermines the city’s freedoms.

Demonstrating further solidarity, Lai’s supporters reportedly lined up to purchase copies of his firm’s leading newspaper Apple Daily Hong Kong. The outlet said it decided to increase printing of copies to 550,000 from 70,000 on an “overwhelming response” from readers.

His arrest “bears out the worst fears that Hong Kong’s National Security Law would be used to suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom,” said Steven Butler, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia programme coordinator. 

“Jimmy Lai should be released at once and any charges dropped.”

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