ITV to sell Friends Reunited at a loss
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ITV is understood to be on the brink of selling its social networking website Friends Reunited at a dramatic loss, according to reports.
The broadcaster bought the site for an estimated £175m in 2005, but it is only expected to sell for around £15m.
It was put on the market earlier this year and is it believed that private equity firm Oakley Capital, backed by internet entrepreneur Peter Dubens, is in exclusive talks to strike a cut-price deal with ITV.
However, insiders say that the broadcaster is in talks with other several potential bidders.
The site has continued to struggle in terms of revenue and users and has failed to make a dent on the growing popularity of rivals such as Bebo and Facebook.
In March, Friends Reunited Dating partnered with Trinity Mirror to become its exclusive national dating partner.
It provides a white-label dating service for the Daily Mirror, Scottish Daily Record and Scottish Sunday Mail.
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | Mon, 27 Jul 2009 1:07 pm
It seems that the online dating is already consolidating in to a few key players http://freedatingsites.org.uk/there-are-hundreds-of-dating-sites
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