Flipboard And BlueFocus Partner To Establish Flipboard China, A Beijing-Based Joint Venture

PALO ALTO, Calif. and BEIJING, Jan. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Flipboard, Inc. and BlueFocus, a leading China-based communication group, announce the creation of Flipboard China, a joint venture that will serve to accelerate Flipboard's product and advertising business in China. Operating in what has become one of Flipboard's largest markets, the Flipboard team in China is now positioned to grow even more quickly as an independent entity empowered to hire, develop and partner with local publishers and advertisers.

"Partnered with BlueFocus, Flipboard is now ready to expand its premium advertising solutions to China while accelerating progress on a product experience tailored for the high-end Chinese market. We are excited to expand the already excellent team in Beijing and fully empower them to move fast," said Mike McCue, Flipboard founder and CEO.

"The partnership between BlueFocus and Flipboard will take advantage of the many advertising synergies between the two companies. The promising China market and the extensive partner network behind BlueFocus will pave the way for the expansion of Flipboard's business and market positioning in the category of intelligent news platforms in China. We believe this will ultimately bring benefits to the joint venture as well as to Flipboard users," said Lucia He, Vice President at BlueFocus.

Flipboard U.S. and Flipboard China will continue working together on advertising opportunities, global partnerships, as well as editorial and user best practices. Flipboard China will be able to build its own technology and infrastructure, allowing them to more deeply customize the product for Chinese users. Further, BlueFocus will work with the Flipboard China team to develop innovative mobile advertising opportunities for the fast-growing Chinese market.

Starting immediately, the Beijing-based Flipboard executive director Jing Zhao will become the CEO of Flipboard China. The team of 25, including engineers, marketers and business leads, will be part of the Flipboard China organization, reporting to Mr. Zhao. The joint venture will be managed by a board consisting of Hugo Buret of Flipboard, Lucia He of BlueFocus and Mr. Zhao, representing Flipboard China.

About Flipboard, Inc.
Flipboard gives people a single place to follow all of their passions by organizing stories around every interest. People use Flipboard to read their favorite sources from around the world and then save stories, images, and videos into their own Flipboard magazines—sharing items that reflect their interests, express their perspectives, or are simply things they want to read later. Flipboard is available in 20+ languages and can be downloaded for free in any app store or experienced at www.flipboard.com.

About BlueFocus
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Beijing, BlueFocus is the No.1 integrated communication and marketing services group in China, with more than 6,000 employees worldwide. The company provides a wide spectrum of PR and brand management services to around 1500 multinational companies and leading Chinese enterprises, covering the IT, automobile, consumer goods, real estate, internet, finance, and entertainment industries. BlueFocus operates in the fields of public relations, media buying, digital communication, digital advertising and e-commerce in China, including: BlueDigital (formerly BlueFocus PR) - Asia's no. 1 PR agency, SNK - China's No.1 online gaming advertising agency, Bojie Media, Eyes Media, Kingo Advertising and BlueStrategy.

"To Be Global" is one of BlueFocus' core strategies. The firm controls Vision7, whose two major brands include Canadian agency leader Cossette and the international PR firm Citizen Relations, We Are Social, the world's largest specialist social media agency in UK, and owns around 20% stake in Huntsworth, a UK-based leading international public relations group. BlueFocus' other oversea investments include Fuseproject, a top industrial designing company in US, Metta, a leading Advertising agency in HK, Financial PR, a renowned investor relations consultancy in Asia, and Blab, a pioneer in the category of Predictive Social Intelligence.

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SOURCE Flipboard