News Corp to launch Japanese MySpace
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is to team up with Softbank, the Japanese technology investment group, to launch a local version of MySpace, the US online social networking site it recently acquired, to capitalise on surging demand for online networking services.
An announcement is expected today while Rupert Murdoch, News Corp chief executive, is in Tokyo to attend a conference.
The tie-up would mark the group's first venture into the Japanese new media market and MySpace's first such joint venture with a telecommunications company. Mr Murdoch is said to be looking for partners in the field in China.
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A Japanese MySpace would compete with Mixi, the country's most popular social networking site, with an estimated 5.7m users. News of MySpace's imminent arrival caused Mixi shares to fall 7 per cent yesterday.
Mr Murdoch declined to confirm the joint venture, although he told reporters he had discussed business tie-ups before with Masayoshi Son, Softbank's chief executive.
“We like the idea of joint ventures. That is certainly a possibility,” Mr Murdoch said when asked about the MySpace joint venture. “Mr Son and I are old friends. We've kept in touch and certainly I hope to do something with Mr Son but, if we do something, it won't be on an exclusive basis.”
The joint venture, MySpace Japan, is expected to target mobile phone users in addition to Japan's growing online population, as younger users in particular spend an increasing amount of time networking on the internet and on their mobile phones.
Social networking services
