Turning down a $500m acquisition offer is not something you do or want to do every day. Sure your business could end up being sold for north of $1bn, but then again the market could trend the opposite way.
However, if you are playing within the social networking space it appears you can take the gamble. Benchmark Capital funded Bebo, has reportedly (per TechCrunch) done just that. Good on them!
They are capitalising on the phenomenal growth of MySpace (acquired by News Corp for $580m), which is the fastest growing property amongst the top web brands at present. They attracted 42 million uniqie visitors in May and are adding 230,000 new members a day!
This must be getting our investment banking friends all jittery in their playpens… here are some fee thoughts guys: a Bebo IPO or spinning off Fox Interactive Media (where MySpace sits within News Corp) from News (per Bambi Francisco).
