Internet portal Yahoo Japan Corp. said Tuesday it will acquire a 51 percent stake in cable broadcaster Usen Corp.'s GyaO video streaming service for some ¥500 million and integrate its own service with GyaO into one of Japan's largest video content services.
GyaO started its free online video streaming service for personal computers in April 2005.
Usen spun off GyaO last October, expanding the number of GyaO service subscribers to 22 million. But GyaO has been losing money on slack advertising revenue.
Yahoo Japan President Masahiro Inoue told a press conference, "Through the integration, we will pursue (the creation of) Japan's No. 1 video content service."
"Yahoo has massive Internet knowhow," Usen President Yasuhide Uno said. "The alliance would make the video content service more attractive."