Ticketmaster Online–CitySearch Inc. and a consortium of
Japanese companies led by Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. Ltd. and Sumitomo
formed a joint venture company, Walkerplus.com Inc., to provide city guide
destination sites and services in Japan.
Kadokawa Shoten is a Japanese media company and publisher of Walker, an arts
and entertainment guide available in several cities in Japan.
Also participating are Trans Cosmos USA Inc., a global strategic investment
and business
development company focused on the Japanese marketplace; NTT Group Co.;
Toshiba Corp., JCB Co. LTD.; and Shufontano Co. Ltd.
Walkerplus.com Inc., will be initially capitalized at approximately $30
million, the partners said.
As part of the agreement, Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch will hold an
ownership interest in the joint venture and will enter into an exclusive
five-year license to provide technology and business methods to the joint
venture in Japan.
Financial terms of the license agreement were not disclosed.
” These are terrific partners and we will expand on our international
footprint via this agreement into one of the largest and fastest growing
online audiences in the world,” said Charles Conn, chief executive officer of
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch.
With more than 12.6 million users, Japan’s Internet market is the third
largest in Asia after Singapore and Hong Kong, according to Nikkei Business
Publications. Growth has been estimated to reach over 32 million Internet
users by 2003.