AOL could sell Bebo

AOL is to either close or sell social networking site Bebo, it told employees yesterday.

The site, which it bought for $850 million (£417 million) in 2008, “would require significant investment to compete in the competitive social networking space”, AOL said in an email to employees.

“AOL is not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking.”

According to the latest UKOM figures, for February 2010, Bebo has around 1.8 million users in the UK, down 12% month on month, putting it well behind top social networking site Facebook, which has 23.4 million UK users.

The UKOM figures, available on MediaTel’s new online database, show comprehensive traffic data for over 10,000 sites, including unique audience, active reach and gender profile.

Last November, AOL said it would be cutting 2,500 jobs in order to make cost savings of up to $300 million.