AOL paying $850M for Social Network Bebo

Strategics remain active. Thursday comes word AOL is dishing out $850 million in cash for social media networking Web site Bebo Inc.

According to Technewsworld.com - Time Warner’s AOL will buy the social network Bebo for US$850 million in cash, acquiring a worldwide user base of 40 million as well as a developer-friendly platform.

Bebo was known to be shopping for a buyer, but the move came as something of a surprise because the social networking site already has a relationship with Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO)

Bebo will fit well with AOL’s instant messaging and communications platforms — AIM and ICQ — and will also offer it a sizable new piece of real estate for placing various types of advertising, AOL said.

AOL officials said the purchase of Bebo allows them to offer advertisers greater reach online and give its marketer customers “significant insights” into what interests consumers.

Ron Grant, AOL’s president and chief operating officer, said the deal should help AOL expand internationally and Bebo grow in the United States. He said the all-cash deal, expected to close in a month, also should give AOL an engaged audience from which it can generate additional advertising revenue.