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BBC Worldwide, the international arm of BBC, has acquired Lonely Planet, the Australia-based travel information group. The amount of the deal was not disclosed, but Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler get to keep a 25% share in the company.
Lonely Planet has been creating travel guides and programming for channels like Discovery for some time now, and with its recent initiatives for providing online content and communities, it's not surprising that it's been acquired. These recent developments include LonelyPlanetTV, which launched earlier this year, and released a Facebook application not too long ago. BBC is also working on growing its own online presence, from the iPlayer to a potential deal with Microsoft for distribution of content for the Xbox. I imagine online properties like LonelyPlanetTV will fit nicely with BBC's efforts.