Two Russian companies are bidding to acquire the US online chat line ICQ from US media giant AOL, the business daily Vedmosti reported Tuesday.
The Russian firms are Profmedia and Digital Sky Technologies (DST). Profmedia is offering 120 million dollars, while DST's offer is more than double that, at 250 million dollars, Vedmosti said, DPA reported.
But also competing for ICQ is the Chinese messaging network Tencent, it said.
Last December, AOL split away from media conglomerate Time Warner after suffering heavey losses. AOL is now seeking to sell off non- core businesses and wants 300 million dollars for ICQ, Vedmosti said.
ICQ currently has some 42 million customers worldwide, including 18.5 million in Russia.
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