"Time Out" Finds Time to Sell Half Its Business; IPad-Only Publications Ready for December Launch

Time Out, the firm that churns out the Time Out (name your city) guides, just sold a 50% stake in its company to Oakley Capital, a London-based private equity group. The Financial Times, which reported the story in its Thanksgiving Day edition, noted that the publication intends to use the funding toward its shift to become "'a mini search engine or portal' for cultural listings. The brief, stealthily located sidebar on Time Out founder Tony Elliott, is also worth noting.

Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson intends to unveil an IPad-only digital magazine sometime next week. This would occur around the same time as Rupert Murdoch's IPad-only newspaper is launched. Neither publication will be free. Today's FT has the story.

The photograph shows Branson in 2006 during his involvement in Dubai real estate development.