VentureBeat reports on the demise of Pleasanton, Calif., Internet phone company Jangl and notes that Seattle-based WhitePages.com was sniffing around the assets.

Citing an anonymous source, VentureBeat reports that WhitePages offered $20 million for Jangl, but then "whittled down" the offer once it found out that Jangl was facing financial problems.

WhitePages.com Chief Executive Alex Algard tells me in an e-mail exchange that they never bid $20 million "or anything even close to that for Jangl."

"We are a growth-oriented company constantly seeking good acquisition opportunities, but we don't announce which business opportunities we pass on, for a variety of reasons as you can understand," said Algard.

The fact that WhitePages.com was considering a purchase of Jangl indicates that the company is looking for new and creative ways to expand the business.

That's not a big surprise. In an interview earlier this year, Algard discussed several new initiatives to build on the idea of helping Internet users find and connect with one another. One is allowing people to input cell phone numbers on their personal profiles on the site, a feature that WhitePages started testing late last month.

Given the company's goal of reaching $200 million in revenue in three years and its plans to upgrade its legacy online directory businesses, I wouldn't be surprised to see WhitePages expand with acquisitions.

Profitable with $62 million in revenue last year, WhitePages should have both cash and stock as currency. It also has laid off workers in the past 18 months, further indication that it is trying to reposition.

In March, WhitePages Vice President of Marketing John Lusk told me that the 11-year-old company had to become more innovative in how it brought products to market.

Maybe it is looking for startups to help in that mission. Stay tuned.