American Greetings, owner of Clinton Cards, has received a $580m (£358.2m) bid from a group led by its chief executive to take the company private.

A consortium led by Zev Weiss, members of the Weiss family and related parties has tabled the bid as it attempts to turnaround the fortunes of the business, which is battling a migration of sales online in its core US market.

The bidders already control 50% of the voting rights in the company.

The Cleveland, Ohio-based business is to form a special committee of independent directors to debate the proposals, Reuters has reported.

American Greetings runs the eponymous greetings card chain, as well as the Carlton Cards and Gibson fascias in the US and the Clintons brand in the UK.

Weiss has held a number of positions in the business since joining in 1992 and took over as chief executive when his father, Morry Weiss, became chairman in 2003.