New York Times Selling About.com to Answers.com (Report)

The New York Times is preparing to sell About.com to Answers.com, All Things D reports.

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The company purchased the website in 2005 for $410 million; according to All Things D, citing sources with knowledge of the deal, Answers.com has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Q&A site for $270 mllion.

The tech news site's Peter Kafka said the private equity firms backing Answers.com, Summit Partners and TA Associates, are in the midst of securing financing for the acquisition.

Meanwhile, About.com -- which produces content across a variety of categories and questions from "What is a caucus?" to "Do women like beer?" -- has seen declining revenues while the publisher struggles to maintain its prize newspaper amid a changing media landscape. (While the Paper of Record's ad dollars shrink for both print and online, on the bright side, its digital paywall appears to be a success.)

The company took a $195 million goodwill writedown on About Group, with CFO James Follo explaining during last month's second-quarter earnings report that “we have reduced our long-term display growth and profitability assumptions for the group."