ITV finds Friends Reunited for £120m

ITV is said to be close to concluding a £120m deal to buy Friends Reunited.

BT, News Corporation and Daily Mail & General Trust have also been rumoured as potential buyers during the past few weeks.

If the move goes ahead, husband and wife founders Steve and Julie Pankhurst are likely to net about £30m.

Launched in 2000, the website has 12 million registered users and profits have increased since the business expanded to offer genealogy and internet dating services.

A sale of Friends Reunited was mooted two years ago but the founders opted instead to fund expansion through a management buy-in.

Former Financial Times executive Michael Murphy then joined the company as chief executive, and this year the management team brought in corporate finance firm LongAcre to explore takeover proposals.

The move is seen by analysts as reflecting ITV's desire to be more involved with online broadcasting.

Last month it launched a broadband TV service on the south coast of England. Viewers in Brighton and Hastings with broadband can tune-in to channels featuring local content as well as upload their own programmes.

Clem Chambers, chief executive at finance website ADVFN, said: "Big media companies realise that they need to buy audience on the internet or face extinction.

"There are few large web audience aggregators around and even fewer in the UK, so it is not surprising to see that ITV is prepared to pay such a price for Friends Reunited."

Despite financial success Friends Reunited has courted its share of controversy. A retired teacher was awarded damages after a former pupil libelled him in a posting on the site.

The National Head Teachers Association has also complained about the number of serious accusations made against its members on the site.

Friends Reunited has also been blamed for the break-up of marriages after numerous press stories covering the issue of online affairs.