General Chat

Form the thread that I quoted:

Green light for Friends Reunited deal

Online information business Brightsolid has been given the official go-ahead for the acquisition of Friends Reunited Group for £25 million.

The Competition Commission has cleared the deal after a 'frustrating' wait of more than half a year, according to Brightsolid CEO Chris Van der Kuyl.

The transaction sees Brightsolid, whose parent company is DC Thomson, purchase the Friends Reunited, Genes Reunited and Friends Reunited Dating businesses from previous owner ITV.

Brightsolid announced its intention to acquire Friends Reunited Group in August last year, but the deal was delayed due to competition concerns.

Van der Kuyl adds, '“It is fantastic news to finally get the green light from the Competition Commission for the completion of the deal. It has certainly been a frustrating period for all involved and meant that we were unable to take any control of the brands until this point.'

Genes Reunited is to be kept separate from Brightsolid's existing genealogy services, including findmypast.co.uk.

Describing itself as the 'original social network' on the web, Friends Reunited launched in 2000 to put school friends back in touch. Sister site Genes Reunited, which helps people research their family history, was launched in 2003.

The group was purchased by ITV in 2005 for £175 million.



And:
http://www.brightsolid.com/about-brightsolid/who-we-are

brightsolid’s online publishing division has significant expertise In building innovative online businesses around people and places. It manages ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. In 2007, brightsolid acquired findmypast.com, an online family history site. findmypast.com was the first website to put the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales online. The company also successfully launched ancestorsonboard.com, the online passenger lists records resource, for The National Archives in January 2007. It included details of over 24 million travellers, including the historic details of the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

brightsolid recently launched the group’s first, and Scotland’s only, online magazine ‘Discover My Past Scotland’.Headquartered in Dundee, the company is owned by the publishers D.C. Thomson and has offices in Edinburgh and London.

Not confusing at all. As far as I can ascertain, Brightsolid own:-

Genes Reunited
Friends Reunited
Friends Reunited Dating
Find My Past
Scotland People
Ancestors on Board
1911 Census

I was just going to say that Mark....
Scotlandspeople also use BRIGHTSOLID.
Or perhaps BSolid use GR? ;-0)
I found it difficult to get help one time when I needed it through BS, for Scotlands People.
Gets confusing doesn't it?
Deanna X

http://www.genesreunited.co.za/boards.page/board/general_topics/thread/1211778 :-)

Martin,,
Sorry I hadn't heard who had bought Genes...
Thanks for leting me know..

Sue

Sue,

BrightSolid paid a £120M or so to ITV for FriendsReunited but the payment was really for their sister site GenesReunited and a nominal sum for Friends.

I'm suprised that they haven'ty split out FriendsReunited and sold it off yet.

By the way, BrightSolid also run ScotlandsPeople alongside the aforementioned FMP.

Mark.

Brightsolid now own GR also Sue.

Brightsolid is a differnt company,,nothing to do with GR


They run Findmypast web site...

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/01/12/brightsolid_results_genealogy/