Deadline for Friends Reunited bids looms next week

21 Sep 2005

Companies interested in buying Friends Reunited have until next week to submit offers, with the Website expected to fetch around £100m.

According to a report in the Financial Times, bidders for Friends Reunited could include News Corporation, Yahoo! and eBay. All three companies have recently made substantial Internet acquisitions and it is believed that the owners, Steve and Julie Pankhurst, are interested in selling to trade buyers rather than to venture capitalists.

Friends Reunited was formed five years ago, on the simple premise that it would allow people to look up their old classmates and find out what they have been up to since they left school.

The site quickly became a phenomenon, attracting widespread media attention and hundreds of thousands of paying subscribers.

It has since spread its interests to reuniting other lost souls, including workmates and families, and has also launched a dating site.

Acquisitions have included the Australian school reunion site Schoolfriends.com.au, which it bought in 2004, and Top Dog Jobs, which it bought earlier this year.

The company is mostly owned by the Pankhursts along with co-founder Jason Porter, but 30% is owned by a management team that includes CEO Michael Murphy.

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