Softbank Corp. has announced it will contribute 693 million yen to form a joint venture with South Korea's OhmyNews Co. in Tokyo in March to publish a Japanese edition of the online news service.
Softbank will also purchase 610 million yen worth of new shares to be issued by OhmyNews through a third-party allocation to take a 12.95 percent interest in the firm.
"We hope to expand our online news service on a global basis in the future," Masayoshi Son, president of the Japanese Internet and financial services firm, told reporters Wednesday.
OhmyNews International will be owned 70 percent by the South Korean company and the rest by Softbank.
The Japanese venture will enlist members of the public to write for them as the South Korean online paper does. That Web site has had about 40,000 people contribute to it as registered writers.
Son expressed confidence about the reliability of the new online service, which will carry bylines.
"Much information posted on online bulletin boards lacks credibility because it is anonymous," he said.
Oh Yeon Ho, founder of the South Korean news service, said that while the company will rely on funding from Softbank, it will continue to abide by its independent journalistic principles and maintain its system of having stories contributed by citizen writers.
OhmyNews was founded in 2000 and has become popular because of special features and scoops by its staff reporters, as well as stories written by amateurs. It gets anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million visits a day and is considered to be as influential as South Korea's major media outlets.