14 DAY TRIAL // The second largest social network in the United Kingdom, Bebo, has just had the rumor veil surrounding its current situation pierced and there is some light going through the hole left. Not much, you know how the M & A talks can go, but just enough to be sure that they're not on their own.
Talks about this first emerged about a week ago, when Tech Crunch reported the social network contacting their investment bank, Allen & Co. about a potential 'For Sale' sticker next to its logo - metaphorically speaking. Bebo didn't really have to shop itself around very much, the same source announcing today that Monday was the last day single for the 2005 startup.
Unfortunately, that's it about the whole deal, the mysterious buyer made no announcement and probably instructed people over at the social network to not leak anything about it as well. There were several possible big daddies that would have embraced Bebo, but the most prominent of the lot seems Google, who has been looking to score a hit in the social network area after last quarter's falling short.
The all-so-possible coming together of the two would mostly benefit the Mountain View-based company, that needs some English speaking users to complement the Latin success their own orkut has in order to build on it. Bebo, of course, would get the solid ground of the Internet company under their feet and the money, let's not forget the money to invest in its future.
Another possible buyer would be Newscorp's MySpace, who will be looking to gain the top honors in every country it is dealing with. The combined user numbers in Britain would give it the edge over Facebook. Also, there would be some use in taking over the Bebo uncluttered look, addressing a key point that has had MySpace users complaining for a long time.
Whichever of the two is (the others disqualify themselves from the rest for various reasons), there's probably going to be an announcement made pretty soon. If you're profile is on Bebo, you'll most likely be looking forward to it.