ITV has made a £150m loss on Friends Reunited after it sold the
social networking site it bought for £175m for £25m to storage
company Brightsolid.
Brightsolid says it sees the acquisition of the site as an
"exciting opportunity to provide new focus for and build on the
iconic status of the Friends Reunited brands."
ITV said the social networking site, which has recently been
left behind by the growth of Facebook, Twitter and Linked, is still
profitable.
ITV's
half-year
results showed it made a loss of £105m in the first half of
2009, compared to a £1.5bn loss in the same period last year. The
City reacted positively to the news, with shares up 3% early this
morning.
The company has been hit hard by the recession's slump in
advertising, although it said the advertising decline is starting
to abate.
Online revenues were up 6%, with 50m online video views in the
first six months of the year, and an average of 6m unique users a
month.