AOL’s fire-sale of social networking site Bebo marks another ignominious end to an overpriced deal for the company saddled with dishonour of having engineered “the worst deal of the century,” its dot-com era merger with Time Warner. But the FT’s Lex column writes that “it is at least becoming clear what AOL thinks its purpose in life ought to be.”
It is now all about content for AOL, with its mix of hyperlocal news and more focused blogs such as TMZ and engadget. “Actually making the reorganisation work will be a mean feat,” writes Lex, “but falling technology and media costs as AOL taps a network of more than 30,000 freelancers will help.” Read more
Richard Waters
Chris Nuttall
Maija Palmer
Robin Kwong
Tim Bradshaw