According to an article from The Daily Telegraph from a few weeks back, 1837Online.com may go up for sale. There’s been a few high profile genealogy sites and software go up for sale in recent years. I didn’t realize that 1837Online.com was a much older business (well, relatively speaking, it was started in the 1960s) and it didn’t start out as a normal genealogy research company (although genealogy was central).
Excerpt from the article:
The website, which allows subscribers to find their ancestors and create a family tree, has appointed Price Waterhouse Coopers to advise the company on a sale.
It is thought 1837online. com’s owner Title Research, which is this year forecasting revenues of £10m and profit of £3.5m, could be sold for £30m to £40m.
Unlike Friends Reunited, which has its own genealogy website called Genes Reunited, 1837online.com was not conceived as an internet company.
Title Research was originally set up in 1965 by Thomas H Curran as a consultancy for probate professionals. It carried out research for solicitors trying to trace unknown or missing benificiaries for trusts.
Speaking of genealogy company sales, Pearl Street Software is up for grabs (they make Family Tree Legends, among other things).