AOL has closed its $850 million acquisition of Bebo, and the portal will use the social network as the basis for a new People Networks business unit. Bebo Chief Executive Officer Joanna Shields will serve as executive vice president of AOL and president of the People Networks division, which will combine Bebo and AOL's two chat platforms -- AIM and ICQ. All told, the platforms will reach 80 million users worldwide, AOL said.
AOL is positioned to "capitalize on the exploding social media space," said AOL CEO Randy Falco.
May 19th 2008