BROADCASTER ITV is near to a deal that will see it sell social networking site Friends Reunited for just £15m, it is reported.

ITV paid £120m for the business in December 2005, but the popularity of websites such as Facebook and the slowdown in online advertising due to the recession have dramatically reduced its value.

Entrepreneur Peter Dubens' private equity firm, Oakley Capital, is said to be in exclusive talks to buy the business. Mr Dubens has a record of shrewd internet investments, having sold his consumer and broadband division of Pipex to Tiscali for £210m in 2007.

ITV put the Friends business up for sale in March, little more than three years after it bought it from founders Steve and Julie Pankhurst, who set it up in 2000. ITV was due to pay up to £55m more this year depending on the performance of the business. It wanted to link the site with its own website in advertising areas such as dating, recruitment and classifieds.

Friends Reunited delivered around half of ITV's £36m online revenues in 2008, but saw its own income fall by £4m over the year due to loss of subscription income as the site relaunched on an advertising-funded basis last May. Tweet