IAC/InterActiveCorp is to invest $20m in seed capital in Brightline – a joint e-publishing venture between heavyweight media executives – with expertise from Brooklyn-based e-publisher, Atavist, according to news provider New York Times.
Scott Rudin, the film and theatre producer, and Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp and media executive behind the creation of Fox, are joining together to challenge elite e-book publishers, the company added in a statement.
Rudin and Frances Coady, a longtime publishing executive, have formed a partnership with Diller in a new venture called Brightline which will pay large advances to compete for high-profile authors. It will publish e-books and eventually traditional books in a partnership with Atavist, a publisher with expertise in producing electronic books and articles. The company received interest from Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, who was among a group of high-level technology executives to jointly invest $1m of seed funding in…
