News Corporation has made two strategic online content investments as it prepares for the launch of the paywalls on the Times and Sunday Times websites.
One of the purchases by the Rupert Murdoch-owned company was of Skiff, a company that helps news outlets publish their content to mobile devices including smartphones, tablets and e-readers. It was previously owned by US publishers, Hearst.
News Corp also invested in a minority stake in paid online content venture Journalism Online, which was co-founded by Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Chief digital officer for News Corp, Jon Miller, said, "Today's developments underscore News Corporation's ongoing commitment to create strong business models that support journalism at a time of great change in our industry."
He described Skiff and Journalism Online as "key building blocks" in the news giant's strategy to transform the publishing industry, while maintaining public access to the highest quality journalism."
News Corp's main interest in Skiff – which delivers enterprising layouts for newspapers and magazine content – is believed to be as a publishing platform, and there are no plans to venture into an e-reader project.
News International, the newspaper arm of News Corp, will roll out a paywall this month on Times and Sunday Times websites, to charge readers for access.
