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'Hyves goes on sale - report'
[September 28, 2010]

'Hyves goes on sale - report'


Sep 28, 2010 (DMEUROPE via COMTEX) -- The shareholders of Dutch social network Hyves have indicated that the social network site is for sale, and have sounded out Finland's Sanoma and Telegraph owner TMG for interest, the Financieele Dagblad reported. Sanoma seems to not be interested in the site; contacts with TMG have shown more potential. TMG and Hyves have a history of working together. The talks are at an exploratory stage. Hyves reportedly recorded 2009 sales of EUR 20 million. Hyves commmissioner president Hubert Deitmers has denied that the company is actively seeking buyers. Potential buyers have also denied any serious interest. A spokesman for Sanoma said no formal discussions have taken place between management and Hyves. TMG did not discuss a possible deal regarding Hyves. Hyves has already at least once been in serious negotiations with a potential buyer. Talks were held in 2008 with US media company Viacom. Deitmers indicated that other acquisition attempts have occurred in the past. Hyves has ten million users, making it the social media market leader in recent years. However, the network is facing increasing competition from international network sites such as Facebook. Hyves is increasingly being used via mobile phone. June figures show that an average of 350,000 users per day log on to Hyves via their mobile phone, with three million logging on via fixed Internet.



(Distributed for DMeurope.com via M2 Communications (www.m2.com))

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