(Bloomberg) -- A Hong Kong court ordered the winding up of jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai’s Next Digital Ltd., the parent of defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. 

The pace by which the assets will be dissolved, including those of Next Digital’s still-functioning Taiwanese arm, will be up to the provisional liquidators, Aaron Lam, senior government counsel, said after the hearing on Wednesday. Next Digital sent no representatives to the court.

The decision marks yet another milestone in the demise of what had been one of China’s staunchest critics. Lai has been in jail for months, his Hong Kong paper has stopped publishing and the Taiwanese unit is said to be on course to run out of money this month.   

Jimmy Lai’s Flagship Apple Daily to Shut Taiwan Operations

Provisional liquidators Kenny Tam and Man King-shing were appointed mid-November. 

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