A SCOTTISH internet entrepreneur stands to gain a massive potential windfall as the founder of news site Mashable which is expected to be sold.

The decade-old site, set up by Pete Cashmore when he was a schoolboy, is believed to be exploring the possibility of a sale, with a deal between $300 to $350 million being suggested.

One potential buyer is said to be Time Warner. The investment wing of the the media giant led Mashable's $17 million round of funding in January, which valued the company at $180 million.

A Mashable spokesman said: “Mashable does not comment on investment or financial matters related to the company."

Nearly two months ago, Mr Cashmore, whose site attracts 45 million visitors a month, indicated it they were to expand into television.

Staff at Mashable had developed a "robot" that analyses why some news articles or videos "go viral" and are shared by millions of internet users across the world.

Mr Cashmore, 30, from Banchory, Aberdeenshire said the robot could also predict what was likely to go viral in future.

Mashable, which is already producing videos for its website as well as businesses such as car companies and credit car firms, is understood to have used recent investmen to develop a range of proposals with some of the finance from Time Warner.

Mashable started as a schoolboy’s blog written from home which explained how to use the latest gadgets and technology. Mr Cashmore is now based in New York and by 2013 he was said to be worth some £60 million.

He has also previously been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.