US: Facebook offering media outlets “millions” for news: Report

According to a new report, Facebook is willing to offer news outlets millions to license their content.  Reports are circulating that Facebook has approached a number of news outlets about licensing their content. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook would pay “as much as” US$3 million a year for three years for the right to license headlines and article previews.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, August 8, that Facebook representatives had told news executives that they’d pay as much as US$3 million a year to license stories, headlines, and other material. Facebook declined to comment but confirmed that the company is working on launching a “news tab” for its service this fall. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg began talking about a news section on the service in April.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that Facebook has approached News Corp. about paying to license Wall Street Journal stories. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The Journal report was not clear as to whether Facebook was offering US$3 million to individual publishers or in total to all news organizations.