Irish digital company Storyful has been acquired by News Corp in a deal worth €18 million ($25 million). The social media news hub, which is based in Ireland, aggregates real-time news stories from around the globe found on social media such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, while also verifying the sources in the process.
It is envisaged that the company will operate as a stand-alone business unit working within News Corp and continue to work with customers including The Wall Street Journal.
“Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp. “Through this acquisition, we can extend the village square across borders, languages and platforms.”
News Corp hope that the acquisition will assist in their efforts to broaden their range of video. Its other video undertakings include WSJ Live and the recently launched BallBall in Asia. To date News Corp estimates that user-generated videos managed by Storyful generated 750 million views.
Storyful’s management team of chief executive officer Mark Little and executive editor David Clinch will continue to oversee the company’s operations.
“By joining forces with News Corp, Storyful can quickly transform its vision into a global reality,” said Little. “We believe that journalism in the age of social media needs to be open, innovative and collaborative, and so does the business model that will sustain it. News Corp is a natural fit for a company which wants to help reinvent the news industry.”
The headquarters of Storyful will remain based in Dublin, where the company was founded in 2008. Additional business development and advertising sales staff will be hired and based in New York which will require them to make regular trips to Ireland to the company’s headquarters.