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Is Bebo ready to bounce back?
On the face of it, Adam Levin has just landed himself a bargain. The San Francisco-based investor is now the proud owner of social networking site Bebo after buying it from internet giant AOL last month. Levin won't reveal the price, but analysts estimate that he paid something between $5m and $10m - a fraction of the massive $850m AOL spent on it in 2008. "We got a fair deal - we're very happy with the company we've bought," said Levin, adding that he was "really excited" about the future prospects for the company. The challenge will be to do what AOL failed to do - ensure that Bebo survives and grows in a social networking market dominated by Facebook.

Meet the New Bebo
First, Mr. Levin says that it was immediately able to switch advertising away from AOL’s Advertising.com, which led to a big increase in what it can charge for ads. Second, the nature of the traffic gives Mr. Levin hope for future growth. Bebo is big with “tweens” kids in their early teens. Mr. Levin says that having this core demographic gives Bebo the chance to distinguish itself from Facebook, which is the dominant social network but has a much older user base. Bebo can further entrench itself with young users by marketing itself as “not your parents’ social network,” says Mr. Levin. – Ben Worthen, July 13, 2010

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Stephen Foley: Bebo loads up its secret weapon
The why is simple: because they didn't have to pay very much, less than $10m. That looked to Criterion like a bargain, despite the collapse in Bebo's popularity, with 117 million signed-up users but only 13 million of them logging in regularly. The brothers Levin are both doing the rounds, talking up the prospects of a turnaround, Adam Levin via a series of media interviews this week. – Stephen Foley, July 17, 2010