Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers Case Study

AOL’s Acquisition of Bebo: Can it regain its Lost Glory?

OR

Abstract:
After the historic acquisition of Time Warner by AOL in 2001, which failed to add much value to the combined company, AOL had been struggling to substantially increase its user base. Its acquisition in 2008 of Bebo, a leading on-line social networking company was aimed at garnering more subscribers by targeting the market segment whose Internet usage was heavy. This acquisition marked AOL's foray into the rapidly growing on-line social networking arena. The case focuses on how this acquisition could be a game changing deal for AOL to regain its past glory as an innovator and leading player in the on-line community space.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To examine the growing popularity of on-line social networking and its evolution and growth
• To analyse AOL's acquisition of Bebo and synergies due to this deal.
• To analyse whether the acquisition deal could help AOL regain its lost glory as a leader and innovator in the on-line community space.

Keywords : AOL, Bebo, Time Warner, Acquisition, Social networking, Internet, On-line audience, World Wide Web, Facebook, MySpace, Quantam, Netscape, Unique visitors, Internet bubble

Contents : 
AOL’s Web Presence
AOL Brands and Services
AOL Network’s Customer Interface
Bebo’s Growing Network
Worldwide Growth of Social Networking Site
Unique Visitors Worldwide