Friendster sold to firm in Malaysia

Too bad for friendster! read more! -> An affiliate of a Malaysian online payment firm has jumped into the social-networking business by agreeing to buy Friendster Inc. of Mountain View, the two companies announced Thursday in Kuala Lumpur.

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MOL Global Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of MOL AccessPortal Berhad of Kuala Lumpur, has agreed to buy the firm that pioneered social networking.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. A published report last week said Friendster was close to a deal worth $100 million with a firm from Asia .

In a press release, the two companies said the combined entity would merge MOL's e-commerce platform with Friendster's social network of 115 million users worldwide.

"The merger with Friendster will continue to transform the social-networking industry," Ganesh Kumar Bangah, MOL president and chief executive, said in a news release.

Friendster, founded in 2002 by computer programmer Jonathan Abrams, was the early king of social networking in the United States, but was eventually surpassed first by MySpace and now by Facebook, which has 350 million members worldwide.

However, Friendster went on to carve its own niche in Southeast Asia, where it has more than 75 million members.

The statement said MOL will take advantage of the brick-and-mortar holdings in the region of its principal shareholder, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corp. Berhad, a Malaysian conglomerate with more than $1.8 billion in annual revenues.

The company said it plans to use those holdings, which include Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Borders, Krispy Kreme, Wendy's and Papa John's Pizza franchises, to extend the reach of social networking in Southeast Asia.