News Corp and Softbank to launch Net ventures

NEWS Rupert Murdoch - one time Internet sceptic - yesterday inked an agreement that will see News Corporation and Japan's Softbank bring US Internet companies to the UK, Australia, India and New Zealand. News Corp and the Japanese giant will work together through a joint venture, eVentures. It will draw on the recently established new media investment arm of Murdoch's empire, ePartners, and Softbank's considerable experience in buying stakes in Internet companies. Softbank, headed by the flamboyant Masayoshi Son, has famously seen stakes in companies such as Yahoo! balloon, as software and publishing concerns have failed to perform. Analysis to follow.