Pierre Omidyar Ready To Spend $250 Million On Glenn Greenwald's News Startup [View all]

[xiamiam]

What’s the best way to ensure the future of journalism: to preserve a powerful institution from the past or build a new one from scratch?

Pierre Omidyar had a chance to do the former but ultimately chose to do the latter. The eBay founder tells NYU professor and blogger Jay Rosen that he was approached early this year and offered the opportunity to buy the Washington Post. He chose not to, leaving that to his fellow e-commerce billionaire Jeff Bezos.

But it wasn’t because it was too expensive a proposition. In fact, Omidyar says he’s prepared to spend the $250 million it would’ve cost to buy the post on the news startup headed by Glenn Greenwald, the blogging journalist best known for his scoops about the National Security Administration’s surveillance practices.

A $250 million war chest would make Greenwald’s venture one of the best-funded news startups ever. By way of comparison, the Huffington Post had raised $37 million at the time AOL purchased it, for $315 million, in 2011. It had close to 200 employees at the time. Buzzfeed has raised $46 million and has more than 300 employees.

more at link

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/10/16/pierre-omidyar-ready-to-spend-250-million-on-glenn-greenwalds-news-startup/