The troubled internet company AOL Inc. plans to sell or close social network Bebo, almost two years after acquiring it in $ 850 million, which sought to expand into this area of communities in the network.In an email sent on Tuesday to employees, Jon Brod, the unit responsible for investment and acquisitions of new companies, AOL Ventures, said that Bebo would need a “significant investment” to continue competing.
Although Bebo has not been as popular as its rivals, including Facebook, have a good participation in foreign markets, including Britain. AOL wanted to use that strength to attract traffic to other pages of the company that are free and advertising used to stay, especially instant messaging communities, AIM and ICQ, to make Bebo grow in the U.S..
Actually Bebo users in the United States are very less. According to comScore, Bebo had 5.1 million U.S. users in February compared to 5.8 million a year earlier and had a fraction from 210 million that Facebook.
Brod said that AOL will seek potential buyers and plans to complete a strategic assessment by the end of May.
The 850 million cash paid Bebo AOL, based in San Francisco in May 2008, represented the largest acquisition since it bought MapQuest AOL for U.S. $ 1,000 million in 2000, excluding its purchase of Time Warner 106.0000 billion in 2001.
Last year AOL was separated from the media conglomerate Time Warner and has since sold one of its properties, the company of “marketing” Buy.at, which collapsed in March to Digital Window Ltd. in exchange for an undisclosed amount.
AOL was one of the pioneers in the internet via phone line in the 1990s and has sought to strengthen and change as a company that produces content and advertising. Opera dozens of websites, including the technology blog Engadget and personal finance site WalletPop.
Clayton Moran, an analyst at The Benchmark Co. said the price it paid for Bebo AOL was questioned from the beginning.
“He doubted many specialists,” said Moran. “At this point you may recognize that they overpaid and are now just trying to get rid of it.”