Gannett, Knight Ridder and the Tribune Co. collectively take a 75 percent stake in the startup news-search service.Three of the nation's largest newspaper and television chains have gained a majority stake in news search engine Topix.net.
The search startup will announce Wednesday that Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder Inc. and the Tribune Co. each have acquired a 25 percent stake in Topix.net.
The investment comes about a year after Topix.net launched its service, which indexes, aggregates and categorizes news from about 10,000 online sources.
Newspapers face the challenge of digital asset management. Click here to read more.
Topix.net's founders are keeping the remaining 25 percent share in the company and will continue to manage and operate it as a standalone company, said CEO and co-founder Rich Skrenta.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
"It was really too good of a deal to pass up—to have their 140 newspapers, TV stations and online assets and their funding behind us," Skrenta said.
The deal with the media companies marks the first major funding for Topix.net, which turned its first profit in December.
With the investment, the company plans to expand its services and technology and grow its nine-person staff, based in Palo Alto, Calif.
Though Topix.net was not actively seeking funding, Knight Ridder executives approached it with an investment proposal following meetings in November about partnering, Skrenta said.
Topix.net has gained attention over the past year through a series of partnerships with search engines and media companies, which are tapping its syndicated news feeds.
Those feeds include news that can be targeted to local ZIP codes.
Newspaper group touts image correcting software. Click here to read more.
It has struck deals with America Online Inc., Ask Jeeves Inc., InfoSpace Inc. and Citysearch.
Earlier this year, the New York Times also began paying Topix.net to feature its articles in various categories of the news search service.
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Newspaper Chains Gain Major Stake in Topix.net
