BuzzFeed Plans to Bring Its Brand of Viral Journalism to Japan

BuzzFeed's traffic numbers are prompting the company to think globally, and yesterday it announced a dedicated editorial operation in Japan. To gain traction, it's partnering with Yahoo Japan.

Greg Coleman, BuzzFeed president, wrote on a blog post that Yahoo Japan "is a perfect fit because it is a pure-play digital company untethered to the legacy constraints of traditional media. We have many of the same philosophies and approaches. ... Yahoo Japan will advise the joint venture on cultural matters, drive traffic to BuzzFeed Japan and own the sales channel to bring BuzzFeed Japan to market."

It's a joint venture, with BuzzFeed holding the majority share. The Japanese-language website is planned to go live this winter, and the tech company said it's searching for a chief executive officer.