According to sources who were familiar with the discussions told Reuters that American journalist Glenn Greenwald would be leaving his post at UK news outfit the Guardian. The sources added that Greenwald would be joining eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's new media venture after the former's exit with the UK newspaper.

Greenwald's was made popular as being the first to report US electronic surveillance programs by National Security Agency (NSA). Greenwald's source was former US NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

In a blog post, Greenwald said he could not pass up the opportunity to be a part of a career-defining opportunity. Two sources who knew about the venture said Omidyar provided financial backing for the new media venture. It was not known whether there were other partners or if Omidyar was the sole investor in the new venture.

The 46 year-old Omidyar, whose net worth is at USD8.5 billion according to Forbes, expressed his concern about surveillance conducted by the US government. One of his ventures, the Democracy Fund, said, "(Our goal is to support) social entrepreneurs working to ensure that our political system is responsive to the public."