Zagat’s considers selling

Zagat Survey, publisher of the popular restaurant guides, announced today that it was exploring a possible sale.

The company, founded as a hobby almost 30 years ago by Tim and Nina Zagat, has grown to a multimillion-dollar, high-end publishing enterprise.

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Tim Zagat

It already has an impressive group of investors, such as Kleiner Perkins, General Atlantic and Allen & Co.

Among individual investors are Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer for Microsoft; Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab; and Nancy B. Peretsman, managing director of Allen & Co.

The company said it had hired Goldman, Sachs to advise it as it considers future steps, which could include partnerships or joint ventures, rather than a sale.

Possible buyers cited by the New York Times include Bruce Wasserstein’s New York Media Holdings, publisher of New York magazine; and Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, owner of Citysearch.

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