[Posted on March 13, 2008 - 5:44 PM]
E-mail
del.icio.us
Technorati
Digg
The sale of social networking firm Bebo Inc. to Time Warner Inc.'s [TWX]
AOL division for $850 million is a big win for Balderton Capital, the European venture capital firm that began life as Benchmark Capital Europe and that spun out from its Silicon Vally parent last June. Balderton, the only institutional invstor in Bebo, is selling its 15.7% stake in the company to AOL for a profit of roughly $140 million, more than nine times the $15 million it invested in the social network in May 2006 when it was still part of Benchmark. Balderton is on a roll recently. Another of its investments, open-source database company MySQL, was recently sold to Sun Microsystems Inc. for approximately $1 billion.
Benchmark will also see some green from the Bebo deal, although just how much is unclear. A spokesperson confirms that the firm "will receive a portion of the proceeds, as Benchmark retains an ownership stake in the Balderton fund."
Some observers think Bebo could have fetched an even higher price. "If you consider that Facebook, which is valued at $15 billion thanks to Microsoft's investment, and has about 70 million users, and Bebo has about 40 million users, Bebo could have been worth about $7 to $8 billion," says Cliff Lerner CEO of Snap Interactive Inc. [STVI], which makes online dating applications (including two popular Facebook applications).
Further proof that a Web 2.0 company is worth no more or no less than someone is willing to pay for it. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
See Mar. 13 story from Tech Confidential
For more see BoomTown, CNET News.com and Portfolio
Also From Tech Confidential
- RealNetworks to spin-off casual games unit
- Blinkx deal rumors have circulated for years--this time they may be for real
- Battery's rollup strategy lands 3M spinout HighJump
- NuRide breathes life into outdated carpool model
- RealNetworks set to spin off games business
