Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

AOL to buy Bebo for $850 million

By Jeremy Kirk , IDG News Service , 03/13/2008
  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print

AOL will buy Bebo, a social-networking site popular in the U.K., for US$850 million in cash, the companies said Thursday.

AOL, which is owned by Time Warner, said it sees opportunities to make money from advertising on Bebo, which has about 80 million unique users worldwide.

AOL is the latest of the major online players to grab a piece of the social networking pie. Microsoft is working with Facebook to deliver advertisements, and media giant News Corp. owns MySpace, the widest-used social-networking site.

The acquisition comes as AOL has undertaken steps to revamp its business model from being an ISP  to a media and content company. It has been speculated AOL would be sold by Time Warner, and the company has struggled to reinvent itself.

AOL said it will integrate its online advertising technology, called Platform A, with Bebo. Platform A cobbles together innovations from several other AOL acquisitions, including Tacoda and Third Screen Media, intended to fill out its ability to deliver Web-based and mobile ads.

In the U.S., Bebo ranks third behind MySpace and Facebook, but is first in New Zealand and Ireland and is widely used in the U.K., AOL said.

  • Share/Email
  • Comment
  • Print
Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find out more

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost -- and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download the White Paper

Don't Fall For The Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Download the White Paper

Will You Add Tape Too?

Over two thirds of disk-only users look to add tape back into storage infrastructure according to recent survey.

Download Survey Information

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed

Whitepapers

Windows Vista: Necessity and Opportunity

The Vista era of Windows is here. Yet most organizations will retain Windows XP alongside new Vista...

A Unified Approach to Workload Lifecycle Management

Discover how solutions that support workload profiling and enable anywhere-to-anywhere workload...

Consolidated Disaster Recovery Using Virtualization

Server virtualization is providing enterprises of all sizes with exciting new options for...

Webcasts

Migrating to Windows Vista: Necessity and Opportunity

The Vista era of Windows is here. Yet most organizations will retain Windows XP alongside new Vista...

Turning information into a Competitive Advantage

Companies today are realizing that competitive advantage is harder to sustain when based solely on...

PoE Plus: Impact on the PoE Market

The standard for Power over Ethernet (PoE), IEEE Std. 802.3af(tm)-2003, advanced networking,...

Special Reports

Mapping a Successful Virtualization Course

Managing a newly virtualized environment can be tricky. Effectively deploy this technology with the...

Data Center Decisions

Data Center Decisions Made Easier. Learn about the latest tech trends that impact your data center...

Closing the Loop: Extending Wireless LAN Security to Wireless Printers

Enterprises cannot overlook wireless printers when assessing network security. The print jobs and...

Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library. Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.
Network World,to go. Wherever you are. Breaking news delivered to your mobile device. Select the hottest topics in networking and start receiving Network World on your mobile device today.