News Corporation and VeriSign announced a joint venture to form the world's largest provider of mobile entertainment. News Corp. will pay approximately $188 million for a controlling interest in VeriSign’s wholly-owned Jamba subsidiary and will combine it with Fox Mobile Entertainment assets.

The new company will merge the most technologically advanced platform in the category with market-leading mobile content production and delivery capabilities and will serve 30 territories with a potential reach of more than a billion mobile subscribers. The new company intends to retain the Jamster brand in the U.S. and the Jamba brand worldwide.

"This is an important step in News Corp.'s strategy of becoming the world’s leading digital media company," said Peter Chernin, News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer. "We're the most powerful media company on the web with Fox Interactive Media, our aggressive digital content deals have given consumers access to News Corp. programming on every conceivable platform and we have already demonstrated innovation in this emerging space with the Mobisode and Mobizzo. 

Under the agreement, Jamba will soon release its first products and offerings as a new entity, following the close of the transaction, including:

• MySpace Mobile Store: In an alliance with MySpace, the largest and most popular social networking site with more than 74 million users worldwide, Jamba will be MySpace's global m-commerce partner. Jamba will build a unique m-commerce engine to enable MySpace users to download ringtones, graphics and animations from top music and media companies.
• The Simpsons Mobile: Coming soon, Jamba will exclusively offer mobile content from the popular FOX series, The Simpsons, through the industry’s first subscription package tied to exclusive content called the "Yellow Plan". Available to consumers for the first time, the "Yellow Plan" will include an array of uniquely designed Simpsons mobile content, such as wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones and video. 

The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of 2006. Transaction is subject to the completion of definitive agreements as well as the receipt of obtaining all required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of all other customary conditions.