Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, is injecting his first $50m into the new journalism venture he is setting up with former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald.

The investment represents the first tranche of a total pot of $250m that the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist has promised for the new operation. A statement released from Honolulu on Thursday said that the money was being used to set up offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington.

The holding company, which has changed its name from NewCo to First Look Media, seeks to build on Greenwald’s growing following in the wake of his work on the Edward Snowden leaks of National Security Agency documents to generate what it calls ‘robust coverage of politics, government, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, arts and culture, business, technology, and investigative news