AOL buys Bebo

AOL will acquire the social network Bebo for an estimated $850 million.

Bebo, which is hugely popular among teens in the UK, has been linked with many potential suitors after MySpace was bought by News Corp and Facebook received Microsoft investment. It has over 40 million members worldwide, and is ranked number one in Ireland and New Zealand, and number three in the US.

Bebo has already made moves into mobile, having partnered with Orange last year to let Orange users get access to Bebo Extra, which gives them unlimited access to Bebo's mobile internet site without paying any data charges.