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The social news website says that 45 per cent of its claimed 200m monthly readers come from outside the US. It already has local editions in the UK, Brazil and India.
However this is the first time Buzzfeed has not wholly owned and operated one of its overseas expansions. Buzzfeed will own a 51 per cent stake in the new website and Yahoo the remaining 49 per cent.
Yahoo is Japan’s top internet provider and search engine and is used by 88 per cent of Japan’s internet users, according to the FT.
Buzzfeed President Greg Coleman has said Yahoo Japan is the “perfect fit” because it is “untethered to the legacy constraints of traditional media”.
The FT has also reported Coleman saying that for Buzzfeed Japan “the focus will be on news from the start” and that the website will begin hiring editors and searching for a CEO to run the joint venture before "breaking the ice" with marketers.
Buzzfeed has been investing heavily in news and editorial this year, including hiring former Guardian deputy editor Janine Gibson and head of news Stuart Miller in the UK.
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