AOL Buys Third-Ranked Social Network Bebo For $850 Million

AOL will pay $850 million to acquire global social networking site Bebo.com in an all-cash deal announced Thursday. With 40 million members, Bebo falls a distant third to Facebook and MySpace in the United States, but it vies for the top spot in terms of audience in the United Kingdom and has a fast-growing global audience. “Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,” said AOL chief executive Randy Falco. [Link]