2. Founders Bebo was founded in 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch at their home in San Francisco, CA.
3. The Buzz About Bebo It was rumored that the acronym Bebostood for “Blog Early, Blog Often,” which was then denied by Mr. Birch.
4. Bebo Platform The Bebo platform was designed to compete with Facebookand offer users the same type social networking experience.
5. Unexpected Turn When the Birch’s launched Bebo, they found that the social networking platform typically appealed to middle school children in the UK.
6. Reasons to $ell The Birch’s intended to sell Bebo due to the platforms instability, which would then prove to become a sinkhole for the future buyer.
7. Payday In 2008 Michael and Xochi Birch sold Bebo to AOL for the small price of $850 million dollars.
8. Popularity At this time, Bebo was the third largest social networking site behind Facebook and MySpace with over 23 million users.
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10. Upon selling Bebo to AOL, it was reported that the Birch’s took home a generous profit of $595 million dollars. This purchase by AOL would go on to be known as one of the worst decisions made in the dotcom era.
11. Failed Funding This sale occurred during the midst of the financial crisis, which would prevent AOL from properly funding Bebo’s operations leading to its downturn. There simply were not enough advertising sales and funding to keep the social networking site up to speed with Facebook.
12. Overshadowed Although Bebo and Facebook provide very similar features , Facebookhad already established itself as the dominant site and Bebo began to get little exposure.
13. Similarities Facebook What’s on your mind? Comments Top Stories Share Videos Share Music Share Pictures Bebo Say it! Comments Top Stories Share Videos Share Music Share Pictures
14. Similarities Facebook Personal Profile News Feed Messaging Inbox Chat Games Link account to Bebo Bebo Personal Profile News Feed Messaging Inbox Chat Games Link account to Facebook
15. As you can see, Bebo and Facebook are essentially the same social networking sites which just happened to be marketed differently.
16. Due to a better marketing strategy, Facebook members now span worldwide with over 200 million users. Bebo, on the other hand, still had some more selling to do due to a continuous lack of users.
17. Massive Losses In June of 2010, AOL announced they would have to sell or shut down Bebo. The social networking site was then purchased by Criterion Capital Partners, a hedge fund firm.
19. They sold it to Criterion Capital Partners for around $10 million. That’s a minimal loss of $570 million for AOL!
20. The massive financial losses incurred by AOL due to Bebo’s failure would cost then CEO Randy Falco his job.
21. Reviving an Image Under the new leadership of Criterion, Bebo has received a much needed home page and profile page make-over. Bebo is also expected to release an updated cell phone app later in 2011 to re-tap the mobile market.
22. Future The future of Bebo is still uncertain, but with new leadership in place and a new marketing strategy there is a chance the social networking site can find new life.
