Joost Expands Into China With Minority Investor Tom
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Joost, the once-hyped-but-struggling-for-relevance online video firm started by Skype founders, has made an interesting move with one of its minority investors: it has launched a Chinese version with Tom Group, with local language content from the likes of CCTV, China Record Corp, BTV Media, CAV Warner Home Entertainment and Huayi Brothers Media Group. I briefly ran into Joost CEO Mike Volpi at the Fortune conference today, and he alluded to some of the plans. We are hearing from sources that the firm has closed its new round of funding in the last couple of months, though there has been skepticism about the firm's future prospects with competition and some early product mis-steps.
With this deal, Tom will be selling advertising for the localized version of Joost, while Joost will provide the underlying technology. The deal also comes amidst some regulatory moves from the Chinese government, which has been tightening restrictions and developed a licensing system for online video providers in the country. More details on the deal here.
By Rafat Ali