UPDATE: See also MySpace and Photobucket: Timeline of Events

UPDATE 2: upgrading this from rumor to fact. Price is in the range of the $300 million PB was looking for.

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It's the deal you never thought would happen: MySpace acquiring Photobucket, the "parasite" that fed off MySpace traffic and hosted a massive number of MySpace photos. There's no word on whether the $300M price tag, which Photobucket was being shopped around for, was met.

Seemingly first reported by Valleywag, final negotiations are said to have happened last week. The deal may be announced as early as this morning. Launched in 2003, Photobucket receives 17m unique visitors per month - a massive number, except that the majority of traffic was being referred by MySpace (despite constant denials from the company).

After a bust up between the companies that led to Photobucket videos being blocked on MySpace, it looked like Photobucket's relationship with the social network it fed on wasn't running smoothly. That's why this deal will take a while to sink in.

We should add that neither party has confirmed the acquisition at this point: we're waiting for confirmation from Photobucket. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on a Photobucket-MySpace hookup in the poll (and yes, we know that the price will ultimately decide whether a buy is worth it):