Around the Net

Can Ning Rise Again?

"Things are starting to look up at Ning" -- the once high-flying social network platform provider, which recently buckled under the weight of its no-fee business model. That's according to a headline over at Forbes.com, anyway. The story itself questions whether Ning will even be around in five months.

Five months ago, Ning chief executive Gina Bianchini abruptly left the company, the company admitted that it couldn't survive with charging some users a fee, and laid-off about 40% of its workforce. According to Jason Rosenthal, Ning's chief operator-cum-chief executive, the company's 300,000 free communities brought in only 20% of revenue and 25% of traffic, while 15,000 paying customers footed the rest. "Ditching free, 35,000 Ning networks have signed up for paid plans," writes Fortune. "265,000 presumably have not, but no matter: those numbers mean Ning wooed nearly 12% of its non-paying customers into opening up their wallet--more than double its previous conversion rate. Ning's paying customer base is now three times its previous size." Adds Fortune: "If the company can survive the fallout, in another five months from now it could be the Valley's latest great turnaround story."

Read the whole story at Forbes.com »

Next story loading loading..