Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Viacom sets its sights on Bebo

BeboWhat do you do when you're a huge media conglomerate and the huge media conglomerate across the street owns the biggest social networking site in town? You buy the next biggest social networking site in town, of course! Okay, so Bebo isn't actually the second-biggest social networking site in the U.S. (that would be Facebook, according to Hitwise), but it's pretty darn huge, and in a move mirroring News Corp.'s acquisition of MySpace, Viacom is considering a Bebo buyout. Last year Viacom lost to News Corp. in the $580 million bidding war for MySpace, and according to the Financial Times, "Viacom has approached Bebo but its plans are at a very early stage." Bebo reportedly turned down a recent offer from U.K. telecom conglomerate BT Group to the tune of $550 million.