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Google Buys Korean Blog Platform

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by Laura Rich
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Sep 12 2008 1:34pm EDT

Google Buys Korean Blog Platform

Sam Gustin notes: Google has planted its flag in Korea with the purchase of TNC, a blog software platform. Terms weren't disclosed.

In a blog post, TNC founder Chang Kim compares the company to Automattic, the company that produces the WordPress blogging platform.

The move makes sense for Google because, as Kim notes, the Web search giant is a much smaller player in Asia than it is in the U.S.

"One piece of fact that my American friends have really hard time perceiving is that Google is an underdog in this part of the globe," he writes. "Korea is the world's sixth largest market in terms of internet users, and yet Google has a market share that can only be described as 'minor' in Korea."

The reason? "Korean web users mostly use Yahoo-like 'portal' services and never really venture out," he writes.

If Google has any say in the matter, that could change. □

Laura Rich is a co-founder of Recessionwire, which provides news, advice, perspective and humor about the recession and the recovery.

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