Posted March 13, 2008 AOL, the Internet arm of Time Warner Inc., said Thursday it will pay $850 million in cash to acquire social media network Bebo, which has total global membership of more than 40 million. Bebo is one of the largest social networks in Britain, and is ranked number one in Ireland and New Zealand and number three in the U.S, according to AOL. Bebo has about 100 employees operating in offices in the U.K., San Francisco and Austin, Texas. As social networks such as Bebo have grown in popularity, so has their value to media companies as potential goldmines for online advertising dollars. News Corp., which also owns the Fox television and movie studios in addition to its newspaper and Internet holdings, bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, but has estimated the network is now worth more than $15 billion. Facebook Inc., which owns the Internet's second-largest social network behind MySpace, now arguably has a $15 billion market value, based on Microsoft's purchase late last year of a 1.6% stake for $240 million. "Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL's personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media," said Randy Falco, chairman and chief executive of AOL. AOL said current Bebo president Joanna Shields will continue to run the company, reporting to AOL President and chief operating officer Ron Grant. The acquisition is part of AOL's shift from a subscription-driven business to becoming a public web site that generates income from building traffic and selling advertising, similar to rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. AOL, which has launched 17 international websites over the last year and has plans to expand to 30 countries outside the U.S. by the end of 2008, said Bebo plans to launch in five countries this year, and will be "featured prominently" in AOL's international expansion efforts after the deal is closed. AOL was advised by Banc of America Securities LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Bebo was advised by Allen & Co. www.variety.com More buy out for Bebo than MySpace and Facebook. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 That's a huge headbutt, with sparks and everything. Badass. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Bebo - the worst website in the history of the internet AOL - the worst ISP in the history of the internet. Good match. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Bebo - the worst website in the history of the internetAOL - the worst ISP in the history of the internet. Good match. QTF Cube. : peace: Facebook > Myspace > Bebo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Facebook > Myspace > Bebo. Facebook last year >>>>>>>> Facebook > MySpace > Bebo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Why the fuck do you need social networking sites anyway, they're all equally shit in my opinion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Bebo is terrible, and MySpace is even worse. Facebook = Awesome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 I wouldn't pay £10 for Bebo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Bebo - the worst website in the history of the internetAOL - the worst ISP in the history of the internet. Good match. Why the fuck do you need social networking sites anyway, they're all equally shit in my opinion These.10chars Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Facebook last year >>>>>>>> Facebook > MySpace > Bebo. Yeah, I second that. If I get "bitten" by another zombie I'm going to get angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.... *Turns into Hulk, mayhem ensues* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Why the fuck do you need social networking sites anyway, they're all equally shit in my opinion We only need Last.FM RoadKill. :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 I can't wait to see what AOL buy up next. Their business decisions are monumentally stupid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 We only need Last.FM RoadKill. :p Well yeah, last.fm has a nice focused purpose, and you can use it to simply find new music and to view your terrible taste and history in music, you don't have to do anything social if you don't want to. I just think divulging too many details on the internet, and throwing things out there for people to see is simply going to be a recipe for drama. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 it will pay $850 million in cash to acquire social media network Bebo, which has total global membership of more than 40 million. I wouldn't pay £10 for Bebo. Well according to those figures each member is worth about $21.25. So you weren't too far off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Eurgh, Bebo is utter shit. But I do love MySpace. Facebook I cannot comment on as I have never used it, and don't plan to either seeing as I don't know of anyone who has it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Facebook ftw! God i can't believe people even use Bebo! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 (edited) Facebook is the cleanest and simplest to use. Myspace is messy with adds and peoples stupid pages which take ages to load and god awful songs every time you load their page up. Bebo = Meh ________ Toyota production system specifications Edited April 28, 2011 by fex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Facebook is the most sensible certainly. The fact that you cannot view somebody's profile unless you are friends with them is something that should have been taken up by the other social networking sites at their inception. Myspace is very good for musicians but rubs for everything else. If you're going to use a social networking site, there is no need to use anything but Facebook and Myspace, all of the other ones are just awful rip off's of those two websites. Facebook though is the only sensible option, other than all of those goddamn applications. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 13, 2008 Myspace is atrocious. Terrible to interact with and looks like shite. Plus none of my friends are on it. Facebook is bes, but I use Bebo more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2008 Facebook is truth. Ain't no messin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2008 Why the fuck do you need social networking sites anyway, they're all equally shit in my opinion I thought you would've understood -- they're excellent for stalking people. I use facebook mostly to play long games of chess with three people I know. I like the fact that I've definitely gotten better at the game because of it, and I like not having the pressure to think really quick. And for stalking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted March 14, 2008 Facebook WAS good, before it got filled with all this app and request shit that practically turned it into another myspace. It's still good for the old elements it retains, but I don't use it as much as I used to cos of all the crap on it. As for AOL/TimeWarner, what else do they own technology wise? Something I found in Winamp the other day made me think AOL had bought it, which was a bit of a shock, but it doesn't seem to have had any detriment anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
