ITV / Friends Reunited

Friends Reunited, the website reuniting old school friends, is to be purchased for GBP120m by ITV, a television broadcasting company.

ITV has also agreed to make a payment of up to GBP55m in 2009, depending on the performance of the website, which has 15m users and is the eighth largest in the UK. Profits for Friends Reunited have increased since the website introduced Internet dating and genealogy services and the purchase is expected to strengthen ITV's online presence substantially.

The website was set up in 2000 by Steve and Julie Pankhurst and their business partner Jason Porter - the couple kept a stake in the business and are expected to receive around GBP30m from ITV's purchase.

ITV hopes to generate new revenue streams from the purchase and plans to link the website with ITV.com in certain areas such as classifieds, dating and recruitment. The Friends Reunited, ITV.com and ITV Local management teams are to be integrated, but Friends Reunited will remain a separate presence on the web.

(c) Internet Business News