AOL purchases BEBO (Social Media Network)

AOL closed the deal of purchasing the Social Media Network, Bebo on monday. AOL went into deal with Bebo in March 2008 and agreed to pay $850 million to purchase the global giant. Bebo will constitute the newly created People Networks business unit.

AOL plans to integrate the People’s Network with bebo and bring the collabrated power of both by integrating other tools and applications allowing users to merge AIM and Bebo profile to avoid creating another screen name.

Bebo is very popluar in England and has a user DB close to 40 million. Pretty ordinary number by AOL standards, but I am sure this move will make AOL a big player in social media arena.