News Corp. launched a Japanese version of its MySpace social networking service Monday.The site, which has grown to become one of the most popular destinations on the English-language Internet, is already available in national versions for Australia, France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Japanese service becomes the sixth national version and fourth language version of the service.The site is up and running in Japanese, but at the time of this report it displayed a message telling users that it is still in test operation.MySpace Japan will be operated as a joint venture between News Corp. and Softbank, according to a report in the Monday-morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper. The two companies did not offer any comment on the newspaper report. Softbank is a large Internet and communications conglomerate in Japan whose operations include Yahoo Japan, number-three cell phone operator Softbank Mobile and the Yahoo BB broadband provider. Speaking on Monday evening in Tokyo, Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp., said he hopes to strike a deal with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.“Mr. Son and I are old friends, and I look forward to seeing him,” he said. Murdoch was speaking after a seminar at which he delivered a speech. “If we do anything with him, which I hope we will, in new media it certainly won’t be on an exclusive basis. We are friends. We will do things together here or in other parts of the world I’m sure, but not to the exclusion of other things.” Murdoch added, “We like the idea when we come to countries, particularly in Asia, of joint ventures.”The service will go up against a number of competitors, chief of which is Mixi, which claims about 6 million members. The company behind the site, Mixi, debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in mid-September. Shares were priced at 1.55 million yen (US$13,166) and ended their first full day of trading at more than double that price. The price has come down since then, but is still above the IPO price. On Monday they closed at 2.14 million yen.-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)Related Links: Report: MySpace Tops Yahoo in U.S. Page Views Is MySpace the Next Killer App in Politics? MySpace Aims to Stop Unauthorized Copyrighted-Music Posts MySpace to Sell DRM-Free Music DownloadsCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management brandpost Sponsored by DataStax Ask yourself: How can genAI put your content to work? Generative AI applications can readily be built against the documents, emails, meeting transcripts, and other content that knowledge workers produce as a matter of course. By Bryan Kirschner Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence feature The CIO’s new role: Orchestrator-in-chief CIOs have unique insight into everything that happens in a company. Some are using that insight to take on a more strategic role. By Minda Zetlin Dec 04, 2023 12 mins CIO C-Suite Business IT Alignment Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe