Bebo is the number one social networking website for web surfers in Ireland and New Zealand. It’s ranked in the top 10 for users in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Randy Falco, chairman and CEO of AOL said:

Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media. What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.”

The deal could represent a large threat to Yahoo, the two companies have an agreement to display
Yahoo advertising, but it’s unlikely this agreement will be renewed after AOL takes over.

Bebo is an acronym for “Blog Early, Blog Often.” The site was founded by Michael and Xochi Birch in January 2005.