Yahoo Bebo Partnership Sparks Acquisition Rumors
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Written By Emily Koh | June 25, 2007 | Share This
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Social networking site Bebo will now have its search powered by Yahoo, reports Pete Cashmore over at Mashable. Formerly lacking a major search engine, Bebo users will be able to search the web, profiles and the music section.
Could this partnership mean that Yahoo will eventually acquire Bebo? Clearly, Yahoo wants in on social networking — according to insiders, Yahoo is willing to pay up to $1 billion for Bebo. This isn’t the first time, however, that a play has been made for Bebo. Founder Michael Birch reportedly turned down an offer from BT Group worth $550 million last year.
Cashmore thinks Bebo is at a disadvantage because it will see lower returns on search ads by having opted for Yahoo over Google, but Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal thinks it was a wiser decision, since:
- “Yahoo Search Marketing Panama is expanding to Europe & Bebo is extremely popular in the UK.
- Yahoo’s communications arsenal in messenger and VOIP could be somehow integrated in Bebo.
- The option of internal payment systems managed by Paypal, Yahoo’s official payment system & preferred partner in eBay
- Integration of Flickr photos & other 2.0 offerings from Yahoo.
- Yahoo’s display advertising network & sales force
- The leveraging of the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium and somehow spinning Bebo into partnerships with major online newspapers
Sure, these may be a bit out there in terms of reasons for forming a partnership, but Yahoo has scored a major search partner in Bebo… and a major showcase for Yahoo Search Marketing’s new Panama interface and the expansion of Yahoo Publisher Network.”
Still in the air is the rumor of a Yahoo and MySpace pair-up, which would clearly compromise Yahoo’s interest in Bebo. Navneet Kaushal at the Unofficial SEO Blog notes that MySpace has 100 million users to Bebo’s 25 million users, and 30 billion monthly page views versus Bebo’s 3 billion monthly page views. Still, he also points out that Bebo is currently the fastest growing social networking, according to a June 2006 Hitwise report.
Topics: Social Media, Yahoo! |