Friendster’s Fate: Sold to Malaysian E-commerce Giant

Just a few days ago we heard rumours about the imminent sale of Friendster, one of the first-generation social networks that originally kicked off the craze. Through self-reinvention the site has managed to stay relevant to a large audience in Asia, although its influence has notably diminished in the West over the years since its founding in 2002 and heydey in 2003-4.

There aren’t too many details emerging yet, but Business Times is reporting that the deal is finalized with a sale to MOL Global, a Malaysian e-commerce company that Friendster has been working with since October to power its payments platform. MOL Global CEO Ganesh Kumar Bangah took the stage at a signing ceremony today in Kuala Lumpur to announce an expected influx of $110 million yearly revenue from the acquisition.

This deal makes sense given Friendster’s audience and the current playing field for social networking in Asia, where Friendster has more monthly uniques than any other network. We expect this combination of assets to lead Friendster deeper into a microtransaction-type revenue strategy, perhaps involving a greater focus on social gaming moving forward.

Social gaming is becoming a significant revenue play for social networks worldwide, in the U.S. with companies like Zynga, EA’s Playfish and Playdom pulling down multimillions in annual revenues from games on Facebook and MySpace , and in Latin America where hi5 is aggressively pursuing its successful social gaming strategy as well.

It’s difficult to judge just how much the deal makes sense until we see the actual financial numbers, but it could be a decent exit for Friendster after a long and challenging road.

source: Dec 9th, 2009 | by Barb Dybwad