ITV buys Friends Reunited for £120m
ITV has ended weeks of speculation and splashed out £120m for one of the dotcom booms biggest success stories, community website Friends Reunited.
Friends Reunited was the brainchild of husband and wife team, Steve and Julie Pankhurst, who set up the site in 2000.
Since its launch, it has attracted 15 million registered users in the UK and Australia, more than 1 million of whom are paying subscribers.
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The deal will see ITV.com and Friends Reunited become the UK's eighth largest online portal in terms of unique visitors, with more than half of Friends Reunited's users are in the sought-after ABC1 demographic.
Friends Reunited is forecast to bring in £12m in revenue this year, rising to £18m next year.
Depending on the site's performance in the next three years, ITV may be required to make an additional payment of £55m to the site's founders in 2009.
Co-founder of Friends Reunited, Steve Pankhurst, said: "When we started Friends Reunited in our spare bedroom in July 2000 we had no idea what began as a hobby would gain phenomenon status.
"The business is all grown up. It's time for my wife Julie and I to let go, knowing it's in safe hands."
The acquisition is part of ITV's ongoing plans to build its online presence and offer a one-stop shop for broadcast and online advertising.
It follows the launch earlier this year of ITV Local, a broadband TV service being tested in East Sussex. ITV is also due to launch ITV Play, an interactive games channel in the New Year.
Although the Friends Reunited site will remain separate from ITV.com and ITV Local, the sites will share the same management team and ITV will cross-promote between the services.
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