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(Continued) The Rank for $ales Bi-Weekly Newsletter, Feb. 9, 2008. Page 18
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Here's another rumor for you...Someone is apparently hinting that either Google or MySpace is about to make a billion dollar acquisition in a popular social site. Some say it might be as high as 1.5 billion. If that rumor is true, the most likely candidate would be Bebo, which is raising new capital. The chances of this rumor being true are about 50-50 according to some industry observers. There is a rather long history of rumors surrounding Bebo as an acquisition target that turned out to be false or that never materialized in the recent past. In May of last year, Yahoo supposedly wanted to acquire it for $1 billion. At that time, Bebo CEO Michael Birch said that the Yahoo bid was a complete fabrication. Of course, a Google acquisition of this size and in the face of Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo would show how swift Google can act while its competitors fiddle around. It would also show that what it is really scared of is not a combined Microsoft-Yahoo, but the growing threat from fresh-faced upstart Facebook.  Bebo is already part of Google’s OpenSocial platform, even though it embraced Facebook’s competing platform also. Still, given Google’s recent earnings shortcomings, which were partly attributed to an inability to make its ads on MySpace pay off, investors might not be so keen to see the search engine double-down on social networking. Some say it's certainly a big distraction it can do without, thank you very much. So what then of MySpace/News Corp? What does it need Bebo for? It’s 107 million worldwide unique visitors overshadows every other social network out there. However, Bebo could help MySpace with its global expansion, particularly in markets like the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Google already owns Orkut, one of the largest social networks globally. Orkut is especially very well known and highly successful in Latin America. It simply just hasn't caught on in the U.S. as much, that's all. Read more here... My take on this I had lunch with a client yesterday and he's reasoning seems to be that the rumor could possibly have come from Google itself, in an effort to move the spotlight away from Microsoft on its planned acquisition of Yahoo. His reasoning does make sense in a way. After all, publicity and popularity always go hand in hand... What isn't clear at this point is what would Google do to really differentiate itself from other social sites such as Facebook or MySpace? Time will tell, and you can depend on us to bring you the latest gossip and news as far as search goes. Well, that's it for now. Have a pleasant and relaxing weekend, and I will see you all Saturday, Feb. 23. Serge Thibodeau, Please note that I am available for SEO consultative work or to help you optimize your website for the major search engines. Feel free to contact me for an honest and fair assessment. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors on this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the companies mentioned on any of these pages. All logos, trade marks and service marks on this newsletter are the exclusive property of their respective owners. Note: Although I always try my best to answer each individual question that I receive, there are times when it's just impossible for me to answer every one I get, as the amount of emails sent to me keeps increasing all the time. Also, please note that, for confidentiality reasons, the names of people writing to us are never disclosed. Please send all your questions, comments or general enquiries to: questions@rankforsales.com Subscribe to the free Rank for Sales Bi-Weekly Newsletter <<< Previous page Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  Bookmark the RFS Newsletter by simply clicking here. Search engine industry news corner: About Rank for $ales Rank for $ales can be reached via email at info@rankforsales.com or you can call from anywhere in the US or Canada, via our toll free number at 1-800-631-3221. Our offices are located near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Visit our web site at www.rankforsales.com About Serge Thibodeau Pagina+™ is offered by Rank for $ale's parent company: GCIS Inc. Besides serving as editor and CEO of Rank for $ales, Serge Thibodeau currently writes professional search engine optimization articles in some of the following publications: 
SEO Today (www.seotoday.com) Additionally, Serge Thibodeau has successfully developed and deployed Global Business Listing, a powerful and flexible 'paid inclusion' search engine that will further increase any company's rankings and visibility in the major search engines. On the Web, at: www.globalbusinesslisting.com Bookmark the Rank for $ales newsletter by simply clicking here. Legal Notice This newsletter is sponsored by Rank for Sales, a professional SEO firm in business since 1997. We suggest you bookmark our newsletter and place it in the list of your favorite websites by clicking here. Feel free to contact us if you need to have your website optimized by a professional SEO firm, or if you have any question on the subject of search engines. Efficiently hosted by Avantex, the industry leader in reliable hosting services. |
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