Competition Commission clears Friends Reunited sale

The Competition Commission has cleared the sale of ITV’s Friends Reunited to the newspaper group DC Thomson.

The Dundee-based newspaper operation bought the social network from ITV for £25 million in August 2009 to add to its portfolio, which includes the website Find My Past.

However, the Commission launched an investigation over fears that the combination of Find My past and the Friend’s Reunited spin-off Genes Reunited would mean the company would dominate too much of the UK online genealogy market.

Today, however, the Competition Commission concluded the deal posed “no threat to customers of online genealogy services”.

Laura Carstensen, chairman of the Competition Commission’s inquiry group, said: “After the merger, another website, Ancestry.co.uk, will remain the largest supplier in this market and its presence, along with potential entry by new suppliers and the alternatives provided by free sites, will ensure that the merged company faces strong competition.

“In fact, the merger could potentially benefit amateur family historians as the merged company will be better equipped to compete directly with Ancestry.co.uk, leading to more innovation and improvements in the market.”