AOL says to sell or close down Bebo in 2010

NEW YORK Tue April 6, 2010 3:10pm EDT Related News Three contention contracting offers to buy AOL"s ICQ: reportTue, April 6 2010CORRECTED-Facebook veterans in try collateral spotlightMon, April 5 2010Facebook veterans in try collateral spotlightMon, Mar twenty-nine 2010A practical plantation turns new belligerent for diversion developersMon, Mar twenty-nine 2010A practical plantation turns new belligerent for diversion developersSat, Mar twenty-seven 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AOL Inc plans to find a customer for the amicable networking site Bebo, for that it paid $850 million in 2008, or close it down.

Technology&&&&Media

The turn of foe in amicable networking creates it formidable for the association to quarrel incomparable players such as Facebook and News Corp"s MySpace, AOL said.

The association plans to confirm either to close Bebo or sell it by the finish of May, it told staff on Tuesday.

"Bebo, unfortunately, is a commercial operation that has been disappearing and, as a result, would need poignant investment in sequence to contest in the rival amicable networking space," the association pronounced in a memo sent to staff.

AOL, that was spun off from Time Warner Inc in December, pronounced it is not in a on all sides to "further account and await Bebo in posterior a turnaround in amicable networking."

The association pronounced it is committed to anticipating meddlesome intensity buyers for Bebo. Bebo has about 40 employees, often in the United States.

Bebo, founded in San Francisco, is one of the majority renouned amicable networking sites in the UK, but never gained traction in the United States.

AOL paid $850 million for the association in Mar 2008 as the Internet company, afterwards piece of Time Warner, attempted to fasten on to the coattails of the amicable networking craze.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

Technology Media