AOL to buy Bebo for $850m

AOL, part of the Time Warner media empire, is to acquire leading social networking website Bebo in an $850m (£417m) cash deal. Bebo, founded by British-born Michael Birch and his partner Xochi in 2005, claims to have around 40 million monthly users worldwide. The surprise deal marks a major push by AOL to grow its social media business, which consists of AIM, a cross between messaging and social networking, and personal communications network ICQ.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/13/bebo.digitalmedia