Red Herring Communications, publisher of Red Herring magazine, one of the first newsletters of the dot.com community, could be looking for a buyer.
The San Francisco-based owner of the magazine, a website, a conference business and a research unit, according to the Wall Street Journal, recently approached AOL Time Warner's magazine division and Ziff Davis Media, a US-based internet magazine publisher, about selling part or all of the company.
Ross Settles, senior vice-president for marketing, refused to be more specific but said the firm recently secured funding and did not need to sell. It is thought AOL Time Warner and Ziff Davis Media may not be interested in completing a deal with Red Herring.
A company spokeswoman said: "We do not need to sell the business, we just finished a strategic round of financing to grow the business and we are looking to expand internationally."
The reports come weeks after the demise of the European arm of internet business magazine Industry Standard. Red Herring, which was at the centre of the dot.com boom, is the latest in a series of internet publications to suffer as the demand for technology and new economy magazines has waned.
Magazine publisher Future Network announced last week the closure of all the European editions of its new economy title, Business 2.0. There has been speculation over the possible sale of the US edition during the past couple of months, with some estimating it to be valued at $50m (£35m).
Red Herring is one of the more established internet magazines - it was founded in 1993 - and describes itself on its website as providing "timely market information, strategic insight and access to growing entrepreneurial communities".
The company expanded last year and doubled the magazine's publishing frequency at the height of the technology sector boom. Red Herring has, however, seen advertising revenues fall and has had two rounds of staff cuts. In December the companycut 32 workers - 9% of its employees - two months after announcing the loss of 22 jobs.
The Wall Street Journal report said the number of pages of advertising in Red Herring fell 28% in the first quarter of 2001 as dot.com firms ran out of cash. It is thought to be more financially secure than some of its competitors because it has a relatively large circulation - 325,000, according to the company.
Red Herring's chairman, Tony Perkins, last month was said to have considered selling the company to help fund a campaign to run for governor of California.
Ziff Davis Media yesterday refused to comment and AOL Time Warner and Red Herring were unavailable.
