Washington Post, NY Times, Gannett invest in news aggregator
A news aggregator startup announced on Wednesday it has received 12 million dollars in funding from The Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today publisher Gannett Co.
The startup, Cupertino, California-based Ongo, said it plans to launch a "consumer service for reading and sharing digital news and information from multiple publishers" before the end of the year.
"We are building Ongo to reflect the many ways consumers prefer to read, organize and share digital news," Ongo founder and chief executive Alex Kazim said in a statement.
"We're gratified three such influential media companies recognize the value of what Ongo is creating, and we look forward to opening our doors soon," Kazim said.
A former president of eBay's Skype subsidiary, Kazim has also served as head of marketing and business operations for PayPal and held senior engineering and management positions at Apple and other technology firms.
The Washington Post said the three companies had invested four million dollars each in the venture.
US newspapers have been seeking new revenue streams and Web products amid a steady decline in print advertising revenue and circulation.
The New York Times plans to begin charging readers for full access to its website, NYTimes.com, early next year and the Times Co., like other newspaper companies, is developing news applications for devices such as the iPad.
(c) 2010 AFP
