Friends Reunited's value to be cut by ITV

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 05-Jan-09, 11:30

LONDON - ITV will substantially write down the value of Friends Reunited, the online business it bought in 2005, in the next few months according to a report.

The Sunday Times claims that the broadcaster will "slash" the valuation and the review is likely to conclude that Friends Reunited is worth less than the £175m it agreed to pay in December 2005.

It said the review ahead of the end of ITV's financial year will be carried out by chief operating officer John Cresswell. The company's annual results are due on March 4.

ITV declined to comment on the report today.

ITV changed the business model for the main Friends Reunited website last year by dropping the subscription fee in favour of earning advertising revenue, at the same time as relaunching the site.

It paid for the purchase of Friends Reunited with £120m in cash upfront and a further £55m under the terms of the management team's three-year earn-out deal.

ITV's total online revenues over the first nine months of 2008 were £25m, having grown 6% year on year. It has a target of achieving £150m in online revenues by 2012.