ITV sells Friends Reunited

Struggling broadcaster ITV has sold the social networking site Friends Reunited for £25 million but acquired the internet site four years ago at a cost of £120 million pounds.

ITV has been trying to sell of the site for some time after it became obvious that buying it wasn’t as profitable as the company had hoped. The new owners of Friends Reunited are Brightsolid Limited, part of the DC Thomson company, which is the publisher of comics such as the Beano. The company also owns the internet website findmypast which allows users to search through the 1901 and 1911 census’ in order to trace their family tree.

The announcement of the sale comes as ITV announces pre-tax losses of £105 million and advertising revenues down by 15%. The search for a new Chief Executive to replace outgoing Michael Grade continues with no news of any possible candidates.

The announcement of the losses could result in ITV axing more shows in order to cut costs. Several high profile shows such as Wire in the Blood and Primeval have already been cancelled by the broadcaster. ITV is also in the middle of a spat with Scottish broadcaster STV over the amount ITV charges for STV to broadcast its programmes.