From sister website www.adnews.com.au
Nine Entertainment Co has finally come clean on plans to sell its group buying website Cudo.
The
website has been slugged with a price tag of $60m despite being launched
a year ago as an $800 million joint investment between Nine
Entertainment Co and Miscrosoft.
AdNews reported last
week that Nine Network owner CVC Asia Pacific was considering selling
the business to help raise capital for its $3.6 billion debt stockpile.
It
was suggested at a meeting between CVC and its 80 lenders last month
that the site could be sold off if the company fell on hard times –
signalling things might not be well in the Nine Network camp.
Nine has for more than a week declined to comment on the sale.
However,
two of Cudo’s competitors have signalled a memorandum has been
circulated and that Nine has indicated it will sell the if it gets the
right price.
One of those to confirm, who did not wish to be named, said Nine has kept “extremely quiet” about the sale.
“It’s been very 11th hour … this time last week we knew nothing about it,” the source said.
The Australian Financial Review reported
this morning Cudo generates around $500,000 in profits a month and was
the most profitable of the buying groups in Australia.
It’s also
been reported that Ninemsn has signalled its intentions to sell up part
or their 35 per cent stake in online price comparison website iSelect.