According to
FishbowlNY, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation have purchased
Beliefnet, a site founded in 1999 that is dedicated to religious and spiritual groups.
Reuters report that an official deal is expected to be announced on Tuesday 11 December 2007.
Rumours have been flying since
November that News Corporation, owners of
MySpace and co-owners with NBC Universal of Hulu were looking to make another Web 2.0 acquisition.
A spokesperson for
News Corp confirmed they were in talks with B2B social network, LinkedIn regarding a potential partnership however dismissed claims that the two discussed an acquisition deal, reportedly worth $1billion USD.
Beliefnet
announced on 12 November 2007 the addition of a beta social networking community element to their already well established website. Chief executive officer and founder of Beliefnet, Steven Waldman said he wants the new online community at Beliefnet to provide a "spiritual home, where beliefs and values can be safely explored and shared by people of all faiths."
Beliefnet reportedly have a total user base of over 7.5 million.
The web has seen a boost of
religious-based social networks of late, with the launch of user-generated-content (UGC) sites such as
ChristianFamilyTube.com,
LoveToBeCatholic.com and
GodTube.