AOL annouced today that they are acquiring Bebo, the third largest social network after Myspace and Facebook with 40 Million users.

“Bebo will be the cornerstone of our strategy to transform the online experience for advertisers, media companies and consumers.”

said Randy Falco, AOL’s chairman and chief executive, during a conference call today.
It’s interesting to note the price comparison to number one social network, Myspace, sold for only $580 million. AOL recently released AIM 2.0 which contains many social aspects built on top of their already popular instant messaging software. Seeing how they involve their current properties, AIM and ICQ, into Bebo will show wether AOL is seriously making a move back towards it’s social roots when AOL was one of the most widely used services of the dial up era.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2275828,00.asp