Social-networking company Visible Path to be acquired

While rumors swirl about acquisitions of popular social-networking sites, one deal has already happened: Visible Path, which makes social-networking tools for business users, is set to be acquired.

A company representative on Tuesday said that Visible Path has signed a term sheet with a multibillion international company to sell the firm. She said the service is expected to continue operating.

Visible Path's hosted service gives people a map of their contacts and their contacts' relationships, which its software automatically builds. It lets people search through that network.

Unlike many social-networking sites, Visible Path is not a separate destination. Its tools are meant to be used with other desktop applications.

The company was founded in 2002 and funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Menlo Ventures, and Integral Capital Partners.

Rumors were circulating earlier this month that News Corp. was in negotiations to buy LinkedIn, a social network used by professionals.