Mol Global Buddies Up With Friendster

Liz Gannes — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:35:42 +0000

Friendster’s long startup saga is over, with Malaysian payment company Mol Global agreeing to buy the company for an undisclosed amount. Mol had recently become the payments provider for the social networking site, which was an early leader in the U.S. and got a second wind in Asia after falling off the radar at home. Today Friendster says it has 115 million users, and 90 percent of its traffic reportedly comes from Asia. It was reported last week that a potential acquisition of the site would be worth in excess of $100 million, but that’s not confirmed.

Big plans for Friendster include crossover promotions with Mol principal shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, which owns Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Borders, Krispy Kreme, Wendy’s and Papa John’s Pizza franchises in Southeast Asia. Friendster had raised $45 million, has obtained five U.S. social networking patents, and is expected to help bring Mol $110 million in annual revenue, according to remarks made at a press conference announcing the deal.

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Mol Global Buddies Up With Friendster