Yahoo takeover may net Bebo founders $1bn
Monday May 21 2007
YAHOO is rumoured to be working on an attempted takeover of Bebo, Britain's most popular social networking site, which could turn its British-born founder into the next internet billionaire.
Michael Birch founded the site with his American wife Xochi in 2005, which has grown into one of the biggest meeting places on the internet, alongside MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp.
Yahoo, one of the first big online portals, is thought to be willing to pay as much as $1bn (£500m) for the site, according to Silicon Valley gossip.
The mooted bid comes amid a flurry of internet-related deals, which was capped on Friday with Microsoft's $6bn acquisition of Aquantive, an online advertising technology business.
Social networking sites, where users chat and share photos and videos, have become the biggest craze on the internet.
Operation
It is estimated that more than 60pc of UK teenagers are signed up to at least one of the many networking sites in operation.
NewsCorp paid $580m for MySpace in 2005, in a deal that first drew the market's attention to the phenomenon. Google paid $1.76bn for YouTube, the internet home video site, last November.
Bebo has around 25m users worldwide, compared with MySpace's 100m or so registered users.
Birch is rumoured to have turned down an offer from BT worth about £300m last summer.
Viacom, the US media giant which was outbid for MySpace, is also believed to have made an offer last year.
Bebo is backed by Benchmark Capital, the private equity firm.
Birch has previously said he would prefer to float Bebo.
