Bebo

The $850 million write-off

Zombie
19902026

Bebo was the social network that ruled the UK, Ireland and New Zealand in the mid-2000s, founded by Michael and Xochi Birch in 2005. AOL bought it for $850 million in 2008, sold it for around $10 million two years later, and the founders bought it back out of bankruptcy for $1 million in 2013, one of the most infamous value collapses in internet history.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2005
  2. July 2005 Launch
    Bebo launches

    "Blog Early, Blog Often" targets teenagers with playful profiles.

  3. 2007
  4. 2007 Peak
    Top social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand

    About 40 million registered users at its height.

  5. 2008
  6. 13 March 2008 Acquisition
    AOL pays $850 million in cash

    Announced days before Facebook's international surge makes it look absurd.

  7. 2010
  8. 17 June 2010 Acquisition
    Sold to Criterion for a reported ~$10 million

    A ~99% loss in two years.

  9. 2013
  10. 1 July 2013 Acquisition
    Founders buy Bebo back for $1 million

    Birch announces the buyback and shuts the old network to rebuild.

  11. 2021
  12. February 2021 Revival
    Nostalgia relaunch attempt

    A rebuilt Bebo appears briefly; it does not restore the network at scale.

The site through time

Browse bebo.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Michael & Xochi Birch 2005–2008 Founded
AOL 2008–2010 Acquisition, $850M The write-off that defined the era
Criterion Capital Partners 2010–2013 Acquisition, reported ~$10M Bankruptcy in 2013
Michael Birch (buyback) 2013–2013 Bankruptcy sale, $1M Old network shut; small relaunches since

Key figures [edit]

MetricValueAs ofConfidence
Registered accounts ▲ 40 million March 2008 Reported Cited at the AOL acquisition

Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: After AOL's disastrous ownership and a bankruptcy, founder Michael Birch bought Bebo back for $1 million in July 2013 and took the old network offline to "reinvent" it; subsequent relaunches never restored a social network at scale.

Our analysis: Bebo is the textbook overpay: AOL spent $850 million at the exact moment Facebook made single-market social networks obsolete, then starved the product it had gutted. The brand survives as trivia, and as the fortune that funded its founders' later ventures.

History [edit]

Blog early, blog often

Bebo ("Blog Early, Blog Often") launched in July 2005 from husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch, their third social product. Where MySpace was chaotic and Facebook still campus-bound, Bebo hit a sweet spot for teenagers: customisable profiles, quizzes, "luv" hearts to give out daily, drawings on whiteboards, and bands' pages. It became the top social network in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, with about 40 million registered users at its height.

In March 2008 AOL, desperate for a social strategy, paid $850 million in cash. The timing was flawless in reverse: Facebook opened worldwide, went local-language everywhere, and turned single-country networks into ghost towns within two years.

The most expensive lesson in social

AOL never integrated Bebo, users evaporated, and in June 2010 the network was sold to Criterion Capital Partners for a reported $10 million or so, roughly one percent of the purchase price. Bankruptcy followed in 2013, and in July 2013 Michael Birch bought back his creation for $1 million, tweeting that he would "reinvent" it, then took the aging network offline. What followed was a string of small experimental relaunches (a messenger, streaming tools, a 2021 nostalgia network) that came and went. Bebo remains the shorthand every tech deal columnist reaches for when an acquisition ages badly.

Similar projects

MySpace A place for friends 2003–now Google+ The social network everyone was signed up to and nobody used 2011–2019 Digg The front page of the web, until v4 2004–2012 Friendster The social network that came first 2002–2015 Orkut Brazil's living room, built in a 20% project 2004–2014 Yik Yak Anonymous, local, and impossible to moderate 2013–2017

Sources [edit]

  1. AOL to pay $850M for social networking site Bebo CNN Money (Fortune) 13 March 2008 [archived]
  2. Bebo bargain: After selling to AOL for $850M in 2008, founders buy it back for $1M VentureBeat 1 July 2013 [archived]
  3. Confirmed: Criterion Capital Partners Acquires Bebo From AOL TechCrunch 17 June 2010 [archived]

Last verified: 11 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).