Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwanese billionaire Tsai Eng-meng, chairman of China's largest rice-cracker maker, will buy Taiwan's China Times Group, beating out a rival bid from Next Media Ltd.

Tsai and his family entered a deal with Albert Yu, controlling shareholder and son of China Times's founder, according to an exchange filing from Want Want China Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed rice-cracker maker Tsai heads. Want Want isn't involved in the transaction, it said. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Tsai, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $2.6 billion, trumped Jimmy Lai's Next Media in the battle to control the 58-year-old Taiwanese publisher. The deal will add at least one weekly magazine, two daily newspapers and three Taiwanese television channels to Tsai's 51 percent stake in Want Want China.

``This is a vanity purchase, being encouraged by China Times,'' said Vivek Couto, executive director of Hong Kong-based media consultant Media Partners Asia Ltd. ``It's disappointing for Next not to get it, but they wouldn't be willing to go above $500 million.''

The deal was priced at NT$20.4 billion ($621 million), the Taipei-based Economy Daily News reported today, without saying where it got the information. Want Want officials couldn't be reached for comment.

Next Media and China Times had been in discussions over the Hong Kong media company's possible acquisition of the Taiwan publisher, Mark Simon, a spokesman for the Hong Kong-based media group, said by phone today. He declined to comment on details of the negotiations.

Rice Cakes

Next Media publishes Next Magazine and Apple Daily in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with a market value of HK$2.9 billion ($374 million).

Want Want China is the Hong Kong-listed unit of Taiwan's Want Want Group and the largest maker of rice cakes and flavored milk in China.

China Times's TV arm, CTi, is ranked fifth in Taiwan with an 11 percent audience share, according to Couto. The group's news channel ranks third while its variety channel is 10th of about 20, Couto said. Advertising revenue was $52 million last year, he added.

``The first thing they're going to have to do is see how they can cope with a Taiwan economy that's falling,'' Couto said. ``They need to see if they can compete with Next, especially if they're not going to join them.''

China Times, founded in 1950 by Yu's father Yu Chi-chung, began as a business tabloid called Cheng Hsin News. Albert Yu engineered the move into television in 2002 when he oversaw a deal between the newspaper and then-embattled Power TV. --Editor: Eugene Tang, Tom Kohn