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News Corp. buys e-reader from S.F. Chronicle's parent
June 14


News Corp. bought Skiff LLC, a newspaper e-reader system, from Hearst Corp. the parent of the San Francisco Chronicle.

New York-based News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) didn’t say what it paid for Skiff, which makes software to format newspapers and magazines for electronic readers. Hearst Corp., the seller, is also based in New York, as is Skiff, which has a local office in Palo Alto.

News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal, also invested in Journalism Online LLC, a New York startup working out ways to get readers to pay for online news. The company is looking into yearly, monthly or daily subscriptions, and also at use of so-called “micropayments” to buy individual articles.

The Wall Street Journal has led the way when it comes to getting people to pay for news online, and these two moves can be seen as further developing that strategy.

The company didn’t say how much money it invested in Journalism Online.

John Miller is News Corp.’s chief digital officer. The company created a new job -- president of digital journalism initiatives -- and put Jon Housman into it, reporting to Miller.