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AOL: Bebo not worth additional investment; Sale or closure coming soon

AOL said today that it will either sell or shutter social networking site Bebo instead of investing further to compete.
Written by Sam Diaz, Inactive

AOL confirmed today that social networking site Bebo will either be sold or shuttered, a victim of a highly competitive landscape and a parent company that doesn't want to invest to compete. The company will determine its fate by the end of May.

AOL, then part of Time Warner, bought Bebo for $850 million in March 2008, but struggled to build a name for itself outside of the UK, where it's one of the most popular social networking sites. In the U.S., it never really gained any traction. In a memo to employees, the company said:

Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space

It said that AOL is not in a position to "further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking."

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