Hot on the heels of Friendster's recent face-lift, the onetime social-networking pioneer has found a buyer.
MOL Global, a Malaysian online payment company, has agreed to purchase Friendster, the companies announced late Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not revealed, but rumors last week said a likely asking price would start around $100 million.
"This combination is a natural progression of our relationship and will be an industry-changing event," Richard Kimber, chief executive officer at Friendster, said in a statement. "The new combined entity gives Friendster the kind of financial backing, retail distribution, and e-commerce infrastructure that will enable us to accelerate our strategy and create a locally relevant, fun experience for our users in Asia, both on and offline."
Kimber confirmed last week that the company was shopping itself to buyers as the social-networking site was unveiling a redesigned site that focused on the Asian youth market. The revamped Friendster site offers a suite of features designed to capitalize on the social-gaming craze: a virtual currency, an array of games, and virtual gifts.
Of Friendster's 115 million registered users worldwide, 75 million are based in Asia, and 90 percent of its traffic comes from the Asia-Pacific region. It started offering translated versions of the site two years ago.
The two companies announced a partnership in October in which MOL would provide a payments platform for Friendster Wallet and Friendster Gift Shop.
Ganesh Kumar Bangah, president and chief executive officer of MOL, will become the group chief executive officer of the combined entity. Kimber, who formerly served as Google's regional managing director in Southeast Asia, will become the non-executive chairman.
It appears Sirius XM Radio is seeking some sort of an investment from Liberty Media, which controls DirecTV, according to several media reports quoting anonymous sources close to the matter.
A deal between the satellite radio giant and the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider could help for Sirius fend off bankruptcy and an unsolicited takeover attempt from satellite company EchoStar, which has bought up Sirius' debt.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, wrote that "though the talks between Sirius and Liberty are advanced, a deal remains far from certain. It wasn't clear how much Liberty would be willing to invest in Sirius and whether it would end up with control." Liberty Media Chief Executive John Malone is "known as a careful negotiator and is unlikely to cut a deal in haste," the Journal added.
Time is of the essence, however, for Sirius: $175 million in debt payments come due February 17. "The company is unlikely to be able to meet those obligations," The New York Times wrote.
Bloomberg cited an analyst at Stanford Group who said both EchoStar and DirecTV could use Sirius' satellite capacity to integrate radio and television services.
And PaidContent.org noted that "DirecTV already has a relationship with the satellite radio company, offering XM channels in its own packages." It added that Liberty is "in the midst of its own reorganization to gain value for assets that include DirecTV, Starz Entertainment, and Liberty Sports Holdings."
Spore isn't the only thing on Electronic Arts' mind. The company still wants Take-Two Interactive.
On Monday, CEO John Riccitiello sent an open letter to Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick saying that EA's existing offer to acquire the smaller game manufacturer for $25.74 per share would officially expire just before midnight Eastern time on Monday. It sounds like EA is simply losing patience.
"Given the passage of time, we have to validate the assumptions used in the model to support our offer price of $25.74 per share in cash," Riccitiello's letter read. "In addition, we no longer believe we can integrate Take-Two ahead of the important holiday season."
Over the weekend, the two had discussed the prospect of Take-Two providing a non-public management presentation to EA concerning the company's internal perception of its own value. Zelnick agreed to that, under the condition that EA would enter a confidentiality agreement.
EA originally offered to buy Take-Two in February, almost certainly a response to Vivendi's acquisition of Activision late last year. With Take-Two absorbed, EA would retain its spot as the biggest video game manufacturer.
That original hostile $2 billion offer has already expired. And expired again.
Social-news site Digg.com, a perpetual target of acquisition rumors, is in "final negotiations" to sell itself to Google for $200 million, according to a TechCrunch report Tuesday that cited multiple sources.
Google has been in talks to bring Digg into the Google News group, but it could be a few weeks before the deal closes, if it closes, according to the report.
Representatives for Google and Digg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Usually a "no comment" or the like is the response to questions about rumored acquisition negotiations. However, that was not the case in March--when the Digg takeover rumor mill was in full swing.
Rumors back in March that the social news site might be purchased by Google, Microsoft, or a major media company had whipped a sizable number of Digg users into a panic. Digg CEO Jay Adelson, perhaps in an effort to assuage those fears of having a corporate owner, posted a blog that month that seemed to go a little above and beyond the call to deny the rumors.
"Normally our policy is to not comment about things like this," Adelson wrote in March, "but this morning's rumors about a bidding war involving Google and Microsoft have created such a stir we feel compelled to tell you all directly that they are completely inaccurate." He continued: "Sorry to burst any drama theories, but they aren't true. We remain focused on improving Digg and rolling out great features."
In contrast, the silence this time around is a bit curious. Digg users, meanwhile, have been more vocal with their opinions. In addition to how much compensation founder Kevin Rose and others in the Diggnation would receive was bandied about, some Digg users expressed relief that Google appears to be beating out Microsoft in this race.
"I would rather have Digg sold to Google than to Microsoft," wrote one user who goes by the name neil1492. "Although it's odd how Google is buying up almost everything on the Internet. What gives?"
Meanwhile, the Regular Geek blog welcomed the prospect of a takeover, arguing that it would give Digg some of the Google cachet:
By becoming a member of the Google family, they instantly get put on the mainstream fast-track. Google also gets a property that can compete with Yahoo Buzz. The biggest problem current Digg users may have is the flood of new users to the service. Digg is not overly welcoming so it would be interesting to see how that progresses.
Will the rumor prove true this time around? Stay tuned.
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