Myspace Japan to launch

[Rockafeller]

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NEWS Corp's will partner with internet and telecoms group Softbank to launch MySpace.com in Japan, the countries business daily, Nihon Keizai, has reported.


The 50-50 joint venture, reported to be called MySpace Japan, will offer social networking services including blogs and online photo libraries to Japanese web users before launching a mobile version of service, the paper said.

The firms are expected to announce the deal as early as this week after a meeting between News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, it said.

Softbank spokesman Takeaki Nukii declined to comment on the report.

News Corp which owns Australian IT's publisher News Limited, bought MySpace.com for $US580 million ($750 million) last year.

The site which is popular with teenagers, has become one of the internet's fastest-growing web properties.

Such online services have also been gaining popularity in Japan with Mixi, the country's most popular online social network site, quintupling its audience of users since August 2005.

Mixi debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in September.

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