As AOL-Bebo closes, Yahoo loses its answer to Google-MySpace, Microsoft-Facebook ad deals
As AOL closes its $850 million Bebo acquisition today, the biggest loser in the deal — other than the many Time Warner execs who hate the acquisition — has to be Yahoo, which is losing its answer to the partnerships between Google and MySpace and Microsoft and Facebook. When Yahoo won the deal to manage social network Bebo's display and video advertising in the U.K. and Ireland last September, part of Yahoo's triumph was getting an inside shot at Bebo's global business. Bebo CEO Joanna Shields said she was keen to see it happen. Not anymore. Don't expect Bebo to renew its current deal with Yahoo, which expires in September 2009, either.