Founder Earnings To Bebo Business

The one-time owners of amicable networking site Bebo has re-invested in the bum firm that was sole off for a fragment of the cost AOL paid for it.

Michael Birch originally sole Bebo to AOL for $850m (540m) in 2008.

Its vanishing fortunes led AOL to bail out Bebo for a reported $10m progressing in 2010.

Over the final couple of years Bebo has struggled to sojourn a force as Facebook has grown to turn the world's greatest amicable network.

"Things have changed on given the sale and we have a lot of thoughts and ideas about how to make Bebo applicable again," Mr Birch told BBC News.

"It is interesting to be segment of a firm we founded and see what we can do to make Bebo a significant player in the world of amicable networking again."

As good as creation an unnamed but "significant" investment, Mr Birch will moreover be an confidant to the firm working on new products and being "quite hands on".

Bebo's new owners are project appropriation firm Criterion Capital Partners.

The company's arch senior manager officer Adam Levin mentioned after years of slight by AOL, Mr Birch will be a profitable item is to company.

"Michael was a colonize in this space and his prophesy and bargain of the mood and landscape is crucial," mentioned Mr Levin. "It was his newborn at a indicate and he cares a lot about it."

"Under AOL, Bebo was not asked on the business side, the product side and users side," he said. "If it was a child, it would be in major trouble."

Reversing fortunes

Bebo was founded by Mr Birch and his spouse and business associate Xochi from their home in San Francisco in 2005.

It was seen as a significant player in the field, third at the back Facebook and MySpace at the time.

Just as MySpace mislaid traction to Facebook, Bebo moreover fell out of favour. Even even though it right away claims 117m users the firm finds itself being seen as an moreover ran compared to Facebook that has turn the widespread player with more 500m accounts.

Mr Birch mentioned he believed Bebo had something really not similar to offer.

"Facebook doesn't own the amicable networking space," he said. "They browbeat the thing and they are good at what they do and have managed to turn a really large business.

"They can't own all and they can't be all things to all people and the chance is there for us," mentioned Mr Birch. "We are perplexing to do a not similar set of needs. The first need is a somewhat more lively and fun experience than Facebook can provide."

In the final couple of weeks Bebo has introduced a few new services inclusive a video talk apparatus and a games division that uses practical cash.

"We are still early on in the amicable networking evolution," mentioned Mr Levin.

"While we have seen our user bottom eat away over the final couple of years, we are working hard with new products to make the site a end for people," he said. "We are commencement to see users who had deactivated their account forthcoming back."