[3] Initium Media mainly provides in-depths news, opinions and lifestyle content with the aim of staking out neutral terrain among Chinese readers worldwide.

[5][a] Initium Media's major shareholder is Will Cai, a Stanford-trained lawyer operating the company as a sideline to his duties at Skadden Arps, an investment he considered "better than buying a sports car.

"[7][8] On December 2, 2015, Initium Media received a preferred share financing led by WI Harper Group, a leading global venture capital firm.

Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper owned by Jimmy Lai and critical of China's Communist Party rulers, accused Cai of having secret ties to mainland backers and Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping.

[19] On August 12, 2015, a series of major explosions swept across the Binhai New Area, a busy port just 40 kilometres east of the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.