About.com set to be sold by New York Times for $270 million
The New York Times is reported to be on the point of selling the website About.com to Answers.com for $270 million.
About to sell About?
The website All Things D says the NYT has been "looking to get rid of the struggling Web site, which produces high-volume, low-cost content."
The question-and-answers site has signed a letter of intent to buy About , says AllThingsD , quoting people familiar with the situation.
The deal hasn’t closed yet, and Answers’ backers — PE firms Summit Partners and TA Associates — are said to be trying to line up financing.
The Times bought About for $410 million in 2005. Last year, About CEO Cella Irvine left the company after poor results , but About’s performance has still not improved.
Last month, the Times took a $195 million goodwill write-down on the unit, which largely depends on search traffic from Google.The site's revenue fell 8.7% to $25.4 million last quarter, and it posted an operating loss of $186.8 million .
Times PR head Robert Christie told AllThingsD , “the company has a policy that it doesn’t discuss potential acquisitions and divestitures.”