I wouldn’t be surprised it this deal goes through: Yahoo’s chief dealmaker until recently, Toby Coppel, was appointed the head of Yahoo Europe last month, and Bebo is the strongest in UK, even though it is based in San Francisco. Telegraph reports, though in a very speculative way (“according to Silicon Valley gossip”), that Yahoo is in talks to acquire Bebo and the price may go up to $1 billion. Bebo has seen its fair share of rumors (and suitors) in the last year BT and Viacom among them. (The pic: Bebo CEO Michael Birch, who is British but lives in SF, was a speaker at our EconSM conference last month…this is him at the speakers’ dinner the night before.)

• Yahoo Ramping Up International With New Appointments; CSO Coppel Moving To Head Europe
• Viacom Looking At Social Networking Site Bebo