We predicted back in March that Ancestry.co.uk operator The Generations Network could be interested in buying Friends Reunited – and that’s exactly what has happened, according to Telegraph.co.uk this weekend. The paper says that company – a big noise in online genealogy – plus the less well-known FindMyPast.com operator, Brightsolid of Dundee, are amongst “a large number of parties” to have requested ITV’s prospectus on the up-for-sale site.
Typically, there’s no attribution for this story, so you’re obliged to take it with a dose of salt – but interest from the Utah-based Generations Network would be no surprise. Friends Reunited also operates Genes Reunited and the Ancestry.co.uk owner also runs Genealogy.com, plus FamilyHistory, MyFamily and RootsWeb. In March, ITV (LSE: ITV) online director Ben McOwen Wilson said he was hoping for “well north of £60 million” for Friends – but, since the main social network has lost out to rivals like Facebook in recent years, the most interest is likely to come toward the genealogy site specifically.