AOL-Bebo: Reaction From Analysts
— Spencer Wang, Bear Stearns: Cash flow at Bebo is likely to be pretty light, so the buy will cause some dilution at AOL (NYSE: TWX), although it will not have a meaningful impact on Time Warner’s bottom line. The deal gives the company a “beach head” in the social networking space, which, when combined with other AOL assets (AIM on the social networking side, Platform A on the ad side), will drive strategic value. Other than that, the main value is in helping AOL grow internationally.
– Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst, Nielsen Online:
This is wonderful for AOL. They are really starting to make some interesting and smart moves especially with them recently talking about joining forces with last.FM. AOL can surely gain some momentum from this acquisition. ~ Paul