Huffington Post goes German
April 29, 2013
Huffington Post will launch a German edition of its online news portal in collaboration with Burda publishers' subsidiary Tomorrow Focus, the German publishing house announced on Monday.
The news market joint venture was due to start in autumn this year and would be based in Munich, Germany, Burda said. Editors would be recruited in Germany, and produce online news content aimed for markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Huffington Post is the United States largest online news outlet, offering its services free of charge and successfully competing against news business heavyweights such as The New York Times newspaper. It already runs international editions in Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Spain. A Japanese version is due to start in May.
In Germany, the portal would aim to earn money within the next two years, Chief Executive Jimmy Maymann told online news service "Horizont.net" in March, adding that after three to five years they wanted to make it into the Top 5 of German news services.
The US version of the site was founded by Ariana Huffington in 2005 and bought by AOL in 2011 in a deal worth $315 million (241 million euros). Entirely financed by advertising, the Huffington Post is most renowned for its content provided by internet bloggers.
uhe/dr (dpa, AP)