07 April 2010 | Author: L. Sutherland Head of Media Content
AOL has informed employees of social networking site Bebo that it will sell off or close the beleaguered business.
Social networking has had a serious facelift in recent years, with minimalist formats such as Twitter and Facebook steaming ahead while more elaborate sites such as MySpace and Bebo have been languishing - much to AOL's disappointment. The internet pioneer paid $850m (£417m) for Bebo back in 2008, but according to Brand Republic, it hopes to complete its 'strategic evaluation' by the end of May.
"It is clear that social networking is a space with heavy competition, and where scale defines success," AOL explained. It was made clear to employees that Bebo needed serious investment if it hoped to continue competing in the social sphere - and that AOL was not in a position to provide such investment.
Following staff cutbacks in November of last year, Bebo's team is presumably not surprised at the bad news, although it's a sad state of affairs for what was once a mainstay of the UK's social networking scene.
However, figures from ComScore show just how much Bebo has been ailing in recent times, with the site attracting 12.8 million unique global visitors in February - small fry in comparison with Twitter's 69.5 million, MySpace's nearly 110 million and Facebook's 462 million.
According to The Register, Jon Brod from AOL Ventures said the company is "committed to working quickly to determine if there are any interested parties for Bebo."
Fans of the site will certainly be hoping that someone bites, and that Bebo lives on.
Beleaguered Bebo to be sold or cut off
AOL has informed employees of social networking site Bebo that it will sell off or close the beleaguered business. Social networking has had a serious facelift in recent years, with minimalist formats such as Twitter and Facebook steaming ahead while more elaborate sites such as MySpace and Bebo have been languishing - much to AOL's disappointment. The internet pioneer paid $850m (£417m) for Bebo back in 2008, but according to Brand Republic, it hopes to complete its 'strategic evaluation' by the end of May.
"It is clear that social networking is a space with heavy competition, and where scale defines success," AOL explained. It was made clear to employees that Bebo needed serious investment if it hoped to continue competing in the social sphere - and that AOL was not in a position to provide such investment.
Following staff cutbacks in November of last year, Bebo's team is presumably not surprised at the bad news, although it's a sad state of affairs for what was once a mainstay of the UK's social networking scene.
However, figures from ComScore show just how much Bebo has been ailing in recent times, with the site attracting 12.8 million unique global visitors in February - small fry in comparison with Twitter's 69.5 million, MySpace's nearly 110 million and Facebook's 462 million.
According to The Register, Jon Brod from AOL Ventures said the company is "committed to working quickly to determine if there are any interested parties for Bebo."
Fans of the site will certainly be hoping that someone bites, and that Bebo lives on.
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