Ebay founder's next venture: funding watchdog journalism

Ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY) founder Pierre Omidyar has, in the past, given $8.5 billion to watchdog journalism groups with the aim of keeping governments accountable and accessible.

The Washington Post reports Omidyar confirmed Wednesday the outlines of a new, for-profit venture with a similar intent: a general-news site with a chief aim to pry open official secrets.

The 46-year-old chairman plans to partner with Glenn Greenwald,  the lawyer-journalist whose reports about the National Security Agency’s massive electronic surveillance program dug deeper into the scandal since Britain’s Guardian newspaper began publishing them in May.

The Post reports Omidyar is prepared to invest as much as $250 million into the project, following suit with other billionaires who have recently invested in the journalism industry. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos' purchased The Post for $250 million, Boston hedge-fund tycoon John Henry bought the Boston Globe for $70 million and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) CEO Warren Buffet bought 63 daily and weekly newspapers from Media General of Richmond.

Read more from the Washington Post.