The Financial Times reports that MTV parent Viacom is considering a bid for social networking site Bebo. This, of course, would mark the company's latest attempt to nip at the heels of Rupert
Murdoch and News Corp., which beat out Sumner Redstone and company last year in a bidding war for MySpace parent Intermix. The success of that acquisition has prompted Viacom and other major media
rivals to reexamine the value of sites that command so much of a young user's Web time. Viacom's interest in the young social network comes a day after the media conglomerate announced a
ground-breaking deal with Google to syndicate its content across its AdSense publisher network of niche Web sites and blogs. Bebo has 25 million registered users worldwide, compared with more than 90
million for MySpace. But it corners the social-network market in Ireland and the UK. Plans for a possible acquisition are at a very early stage, the
Times reports, but Viacom is understood to
have told its mergers and acquisitions team to look at the company. Bebo founder and CEO Michael Birch said he was in no hurry to sell, since he receives approaches about once every two weeks. Bebo
has also reportedly held talks with UK-based media companies like BT and ITV, from which valuations north of $600 million were discussed.
Read the whole story at Financial Times »
