Thursday, June 17, 2010

Has AOL finally unloaded Bebo? | The Social - CNET News

Amazing if accurate

Mashable reported on Wednesday morning that Bebo had been sold; The Wall Street Journal followed up later in the day by saying that the deal is "close" but not complete and that the buyer is Criterion Capital Partners, a hedge fund based in Studio City, Calif. An AOL representative did not respond to a request for comment; a price isn't yet clear, but the Journal noted that Criterion's buys tend to be in the $3 million to $30 million range.

That's a big drop in valuation. AOL acquired Bebo for $850 million early in 2008, when the social network was still a hot commodity among teenagers in several European countries, and when it was still possible that having a social-media property in-house could help it gain international reach as well as potentially rival Facebook.

Has AOL finally unloaded Bebo? | The Social - CNET News

No comments: