By The Wall Street Journal
Tsai Eng-meng, the famously persistent chairman of Want Want China Holdings Ltd., recently tightened his grip on the Taiwanese media market after he and a consortium of buyers finally struck a deal with longtime rival Jimmy Lai of Hong Kong to buy the Taiwan print and television operations of Mr. Lai’s Next Media empire. Mr. Tsai, ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ list of Taiwan’s richest people with an estimated net worth of $8 billion, is a controversial figure on the island for having once said he hopes for eventual reunification with mainland China. His involvement in the Next Media purchase has sparked fears over editorial independence in Taiwan – Mr. Tsai already owns a TV station, three newspapers and several magazines on the island – and helped earn the top spot on this month’s China Power List, a ranking of top corporate newsmakers in the world’s second-largest economy compiled using data from Dow Jones Insight.
Eccentric Alibaba founder Jack Ma, no stranger to the Power List, maintained his grip on the second spot, followed in third by Liang Wengen, chairman of Changsha, Hunan-based Sany Heavy Industry Co., who moved up from No. 7 following a recent flare-up in his company’s long-running public feud with hometown competitor Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co.
