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TOKYO – The Japanese Media Startup Uzabase acquires Quartz, a New York-based online news platform, from Atlantic Media.
Uzabase has a contract with the US media company valued between $ 75 and $ 110 million. According to both parties, Quartz will occupy the English version of NewsPicks, the Uzabase subscription-based commercial information platform designed for mobile devices.
] In an online letter to readers, Quartz said that its products will remain the same and will continue to be free, but it hopes to expand into the kind of underwriting "premium content" offers similar to NewsPicks products.
have been discussing a partnership since last fall. NewsPicks, launched in 2013, entered the US market last year as a joint venture with Dow Jones.
Yusuke Umeda, co-founder and CEO of Uzabase, has clearly expressed his global ambitions in an interview with Associated Press last year. Its companies benefit from significant financing of venture capital and Japanese companies.
"Culture to encourage start-ups and try new businesses is also growing. It was totally absent eight years ago. It's a big change. "I think it's positive," he said.
In announcing the acquisition, Umeda called the move "the next chapter of NewsPicks' growth."
Still in his thirties, he is part of a new breed of Japanese entrepreneurs who are not afraid to take risks and look beyond the old-fashioned businesses that dominate the national economy for decades.
Quartz, founded in 2012, targets professionals, with 100 journalists from around the world and 20 million people accessing it each month on average. Quartz will retain its name and brand image. The Atlantic, founded in 1857, now includes digital and print publications, events, videos and podcasts.
Jay Lauf, co-president and publisher of Quartz, said Quartz and NewsPicks both have a global approach. NewsPicks and Quarts share a spirit of entrepreneurship and faith in the importance of high integrity journalism and quality advertising, "he said
NewsPicks has flourished at a time when other press organizations are struggling. It has about 3.3 million registered users and 64,000 paid subscribers in Japan. Subscriptions account for about half of its turnover, which is growing.
A handful of Japanese media conglomerates remain powerful and rich. In 2015, Nikkei Inc., which focuses on economic news, bought the London-based Financial Times. The Nikkei newspaper says it has a circulation of 3 million.
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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
His work can be found at https: //www.apnews .com / search / yuri% 20kageyama
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