ITV puts Friends Reunited for sale
The firm has put the social networking site - worth an estimated £40 million - up for sale as part of its plans to cut costs as advertising revenues slide in recession.
Potential buyers looking at the business include the Generations Network - the US owner of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com - and Scotland-based Brightsolid, which owns findmypast.com, the Sunday Telegraph says.
The sale comes little more than three years after ITV bought the business for £175 million from founders Steve and Julie Pankhurst, the husband and wife team who set up the website in 2000.
Although the reunions site saw users reach a record 6.4 million in July, the social networking landscape has seen major players emerge such as Facebook, Bebo and Myspace - while a worsening economy has hit advertising.
Brightsolid and the Generations Network are likely to be interested in Friends Reunited's family history spin-off Genes Reunited, the Telegraph says.
ITV made pre-tax losses of £2.73 billion last year after it wrote down the value of assets on its balance sheet.
It also reported a 14% slide in first-quarter revenues and accelerated its cost-cutting programme last week, saying it would now look to save a total of £215 million in 2010 and £285 million in 2011
The broadcaster, which was unavailable for comment, is looking for a new boss after announcing that Michael Grade will step down to become non-executive chairman before the end of the year.
Alongside Friends Reunited, it is also selling SDN - one of its most valuable assets - which rents digital television capacity to broadcasters.
