Onetime social-networking pioneer Friendster unveiled a new design on Thursday, and it's focusing on the demographic that has kept it afloat for the past few years: the Asian youth market. And according to Reuters, Friendster may also be sold to a buyer in Asia by the end of the month for at least $100 million.
Yes, Friendster still exists. The first big social network to take off, it was surpassed by the likes of MySpace and Facebook, and its popularity in much of the world quickly faded. Now, it says it has 75 million registered users (no word on how many are active), and that 90 percent of its traffic comes from the Asia-Pacific region. It started offering translated versions of the site two years ago.
New to the revamped Friendster are a suite of features designed to capitalize on the social-gaming craze: a virtual currency, an array of games, and virtual gifts.
Friendster CEO Richard Kimber confirmed to Reuters that the company was shopping itself to buyers, and that investment bank Morgan Stanley had been hired to handle the sale and that the company is working with "a shortlist" of potential suitors. It won't be the first time it's been looking to sell: CNET reported in 2005 that investment bank Montgomery & Co. had been hired for the same purpose.
Kimber, a former Googler, joined Friendster last year right around the same time that it raised $20 million in venture funding in a round led by IDG Ventures.
Updated at 7:24 a.m. PT on Tuesday with comment from Richard Kimber.
Brush off your Monty Python and the Holy Grail references: although long forgotten by social-media junkies in the United States, Friendster is not dead yet. The pioneering social network announced on Tuesday that it has raked in $20 million in venture funding led by IDG Ventures and has hired Richard Kimber as its new CEO.
Kimber was hired from Google, of all places, where he served as the regional managing director in Southeast Asia. That's key for Friendster, which has seen most of its recent growth in the Asia-Pacific region, to the point where it's now the No. 1 social network in countries such as Singapore, as well as the Asian leader overall, according to ComScore. Friendster has been translating the site into different Asian languages and focusing on growth there rather than trying to patch things up in the States.
He takes over from Kent Lindstrom, who will remain on Friendster's payroll after serving as CEO since early 2006. Founder Jonathan Abrams left amid the site's U.S. decline, and he now runs an invitation start-up called Socializr.
"Friendster is growing at an enormous rate in Asia-Pacific and is clearly leading the competition. I believe this is partly because the Internet is transforming the lives of everyone, and it will probably become one of the greatest liberators of our time," Kimber said in a statement that seemed tinged with mild political undertones. "I look forward to growing our business further, as we continue our global growth and strong focus on Asia."
Kimber insisted in an interview on Tuesday that he hadn't implied anything political. "It's more about the fact that the Internet enables...people to connect with people that they haven't been able to connect with," he explained. "I really do think social networking has a very important role to play alongside the access to information."
When it does come to dealing with governments that might not adhere to U.S. standards of free speech, Kimber said the company is well-prepared. "Like all social networks, we are very much in touch with all the government agencies and the like. We have a massive user base already, and we're very much on the forefront of how this whole industry evolves," he said. Referring to his experience at Google, he added, "I've had a lot of dialogue with regulators throughout the area."
Indeed, to fuel that growth, the company has raised $20 million. IDG Ventures was joined in the round by all of Friendster's previous investors: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, and the Founders Fund (which also invested in Facebook). The last round of funding the company raised was $10 million just less than two years ago.
Kimber said the latest round will be used to hire more employees, specifically engineering talent, and opening more offices across the Asian continent. He named Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia as four countries where he'll have an executive presence.
Friendster has more than 75 million members to date. While many are still in the States, Kimber said the company will maintain its Asia-centric strategy and that any U.S. marketing will be targeted toward audiences with close ties to Asian countries.
"We're continuing to focus on the international component of the U.S. market: Americans that are interested in Asia and that have connections in Asia," he said. "We're going to pursue a segment strategy for the U.S. and then a much broader strategy in Asia."
The game development platform du jour might be the iPhone 2.0 software, but News Corp.'s MySpace hopes to make a splash with a new contest in its Asian market: TheGame08, which pits developers against one another in an attempt to create a hit social game that runs on MySpace's platform. It all leads up to the legendary Tokyo Game Show this October.
Starting Thursday, developers who are at least 18 years old and legal residents of either China, Japan, Korea, or India can enter the contest in groups of no more than three; regional semi-finalists from each country, who win trips to the Tokyo Game Show, will be chosen by a panel of judges that includes MySpace President Tom Anderson, IGN executive Peer Schneider, and Sherpalo Ventures' Sandeep Murthy. The final winner will be announced on October 9 at the gaming expo.
"MySpace is defining the future of online casual gaming by providing a global platform to showcase the best and the brightest that this incredible developer community has to offer," Steve Pearman, senior vice president of product and strategy at MySpace, said in a statement. "I am looking forward to the unique and engaging applications that this contest will inspire."
The winning application, which will be translated into English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, will earn special promotion from MySpace (and there are some cash prizes involved, too). And for MySpace, it's a way to get some publicity for quality applications. Because its platform is OpenSocial-compatible, there have been few breakout apps there that aren't available elsewhere. A high-profile original could provide some decent buzz.
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