Thursday, June 17, 2010

WORST IDEA 6/17/10: AOL buys, now sells, BEBO

As a basic rule, it's a bad idea to pay huge money for any social media Web site not named "Facebook" or "Twitter." This did not stop AOL from buying BEBO, a social networking Web site nobody had ever heard of when they bought it a few years ago for $850 million. As you might imagine, that deal turned out disastrously as BEBO did not turn around AOL's rapidly sinking fortunes and now even less people know what BEBO is. That led AOL to sell he site yesterday in a transaction in which AOL executives described BEBO's common stock as "worthless." But for $850 million and sell for worthless. Hoping they get some mail from shareholders about this one. Perhaps now they can buy Friendster.

AOL Confirms Sale Of Bebo To Turnaround Firm Criterion - WSJ.com

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