AOL buys Facebook rival Bebo - Washington Business Journal:

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The deal is part of the AOL's transitionj away from dial-up Internet as it aims to get a sliced of the competitive social mediaq market and togrow internationally. Bebo is one of the largestr social networking sites in the Unitede Kingdom with 40million members. "Bebk is the perfect complementto AOL'x personal communications network and puts us in a leading positiom in social media," said AOL's chief executivew Randy Falco in a statement. founded by Michael and Xochu Birchin 2005, has 100 employees operatintg out of its headquarters in U.K., San Franciscp and Austin, Texas. It plans to launcy in five countries this according tothe statement.
Bebo Presideng Joanna Shields will continue to lead that AOL also said it launched 17 international Web sitesz last year and aims to expand to 30 countries by the endof 2008. AOL, a subsidiarh of (NYSE: TWX), announced last year it was movinbg its headquarters from Dulles to New York by this sprintg to be in the center of themedia world. Although the company also cut 2,00o AOL jobs in October, including 750 in Northernm Virginia, it continues to say it will maintain a significant presenc e at its Dulles campus where thereare 4,000 employees.