Bebo gears up for new activity

Criterion have been making their first changes at Bebo, as they try to turn around the fortune of the social networking site they bought recently from AOL.
They will be investing in new staff and focussing on the niche tween market.


http://paidcontent.org/article/419-new-bebo-ceo-well-staff-up-innovate-then-maybe-sell/

Bebo moves on

AOL has sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners for a rumoured $10m or less. Criterion have described the site as "attractive media platform".

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/17/aol-confirms-bebo-sale
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cf6e4258-7a08-11df-9871-00144feabdc0.html

Bebo about to go

AOL has come to the inevitable conclusion that it will have to sell or shut down Bebo. Bebo has been performing poorly of recent, with it's users in the US down from 5.8 million last year to 5.1 million this year. (This is compared to Facebook's 210 million)
They paid $850 million for it a couple of years ago, a figure that it is unlikely to sell for now.

Read more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8606379.stm

Bebo makes cuts in the UK

Bebo have announced cuts in the UK of 100 jobs. They are also ditching their web TV division, which was working on KateModern and Sofia's Diary. They seemed to fall behind Facebook, and irreversibly so. Their service and support for businesses hasn't matched that of other companies and I wonder how much longer they can continue without finding a niche.

It makes the purchase of Bebo for $850m like another poor business move from AOL.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/12/bebo-cuts-jobs-web-tv