Huffington Post plans India edition; launch in May

US-based leading online newspaper Huffington Post is planning to launch an India edition by May this year and negotiations are currently underway to finalise a local partner for this venture.

 

"We are working very hard on our India edition. We are in negotiations right now and we hope to launch it in May," Huffington Post CEO Jimmy Maymann said here.

 

Starting with English language, the India online edition would also eventually offer news in other local languages, Maymann told PTI on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

 

Having established itself as a major media force in India through its namesake online newspaper, Huffington Post has already begun its expansion in other markets with ten international editions already under its stable. It has just launched a new section called, World Post.

 

"We are also launching a Brazil edition next week, to be followed by South Korea in about a month's time," Maymann said, while adding that he was waiting for a government clearance in South Korea.

 

Without disclosing the name of its prospective partners in India, the Huffington Post CEO said that it has got a couple of options, but the negotiations have reached almost final level and a deal was very close to be finalised.

 

"All the international markets that we have gone to, have been with partners," he said, while adding that having a partner in India would also make it easier to do business there because of the domestic legislations.

 

Asked about the areas that its India edition would focus on, he said these would include broadly four categories -- politics, lifestyle, entertainment and business and technology, which are also the key focus areas for its US edition.

 

But a final decision would be taken after discussing the same with the partner as each market has different requirements, he said.

 

"We want to be global, but while being local," he said, adding the India edition would first begin in English language and followed by in other languages.

 

Huffington Post's Video Streaming Network President Roy Sekoff said that its strategy for all offices across the world has been that it never sends people to outside bureaus and it is the local journalists from that area who work for it.

 

Its international editions currently include Canada, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Japan. "Currently, we have 95,000 unique visitors every month and of those 44 per cent are from international markets," he said.