A couple who launched Friends Reunited from their spare bedroom were celebrating a windfall of more than £30m yesterday after selling the business to ITV.
Julie and Steve Pankhurst, who founded the reunion website in 2000, sold their stake in the firm as part of a deal worth initially up to £120m.
It will also mean major payouts for 52 Friends Reunited managers and employees - who share a 40 per cent stake - as well as the couple's business partner Jason Porter.
Mrs Pankhurst, 38, came up with the idea for Friends Reunited as a way of finding out how many of her old school friends were pregnant like herself.
Her software engineer husband and his business partner worked on the site and Friends Reunited was launched in 2000 from the Pankhursts' London home.
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