News Corp. and Google have reached a three-year agreement in which the search giant will pay for news, according to Bloomberg. The two companies will partner to develop a subscription platform and cultivate audio and video journalism and share ad revenue.
- The agreement between News Corp. and Google ends a long-sought settlement of battle over the value of journalism on online platforms.
- The pact doesn’t end a similar controversy in Australia which began when Facebook Inc. started restricting the sharing of news on its platform there.
- Facebook Inc. and Google oppose a proposed Australian law that would force search and social giants to pay publishers for the value of their stories generated on the internet companies’ digital platforms.
- Google has threatened to shut its search engine in Australia if the proposal becomes law.
- News Corp. has led other publishers in calling Google and Facebook to pay them for the rights to host articles on search and social platforms.
- News Corp launched a site, Knewz.com, last year to rival Google’s search engine, hoping it would become the new way readers sought out journalism.
- Google has reportedly started paying select media outlets in the U.K, Australia, and Argentina while Facebook announced deals to pay some publishers to share stories via a dedicated news section.
- Last week, Microsoft Corp., which owns the rival Bing search engine, said the U.S should adopt its own version of the proposed Australian law.
News Corp stock is currently declining as Google gains. NWSA: NASDAQ closed down 2.56%, GOOGL: NASDAQ is up 0.078% on premarket.
