"We're still very early in the process of building this new organization," the French-born US entrepreneur and philanthropist said in a blog post and on his Twitter feed. "In fact, we don?t even have a name for it yet."

Omidyar, who became a billionaire when eBay went public, said he was hoping to launch the news service in early 2010.

"We are creating a Honolulu-based local news service that will produce original, in-depth reporting and analysis of local issues in Hawaii.

"Since it's 2009 (almost 2010!) this will be an online-only service," Omidyar said.

"Although we haven?t fully defined our coverage areas yet, we know the focus will be public affairs and civic matters that impact communities across Hawaii," he said.

The 42-year-old Omidyar ranks 40th on the latest Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans with an estimated net worth of 5.5 billion dollars.