SPH takes on Yahoo!

Just this week Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) announced two JVs worth $2 million each with Norwegian media company, Schibsted, to take Singapore's agenda-setting media giant beyond the island and deeper into cyberspace.

Although SPH's strength comes from its newspapers, the JVs will develop "online classifieds, search and directories and other Internet opportunities", according to a self-promoting news article.

It's great to see SPH getting more involved in the online space, but doesn't this move bring the tiny country's incumbent media in direct competition with the global portal giant Yahoo! Inc. which already has all that the JVs are planning and more? Not to mention eBay, Google, BaiDu, and many other toes the JVs may be stepping on.

It would be interesting to see how these efforts complement its excisting Web properties: ST701, Stomp, and Straits Times Interactive.

In the true spirit of the online social media, I reckon the JV should launch a Gawker Media type business "buying out" a few prominent regional blogs. Hey, it worked in the US, could be worth a shot here. Or maybe I just read too much Business 2.0.

By Benjamin Koe on Saturday, 16 September 2006 at 12:04 AM

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