Hardly any surprises here – I’ve covered the popularity of Friendster in Asia in my Social Media podcasts, and the sophistication of the Malaysian social network industry in blog posts:
Friendster, the social network which set things off more than half a decade ago has finally been sold after several attempts in the past years. As expected, the social network was snatched up by an Asian company, MOL Global, a Malaysian e-commerce and payments company for an unreported sum which some put at about $100 million. MOL
Global will take over 100 percent ownership of Friendster and hopes to bolster the social network’s position in the Asia-Pacific region where it’s a very strong player dominating the market.
I’m pretty sure they launched a virtual goods store the other day?
Friendster and MOL Global (CEO: Ganesh Kumar Bangah) already work together and Friendster Wallet, the social network’s virtual currency system is powered by the payments company’s technology. The two are now expected to take that partnership even further with payments becoming an integral part of the social network. Friendster has raised $45 million in investments so far though it was valued a lot more than what it got now at some point. It also holds several social networking patents which could mean an extra revenue source for the company. The site also got a major redesign recently with a clear focus on its new core audience in the Asia-Pacific region.
From softpedia