MOL Global acquires world’s oldest social networking site Friendster

Online payment company MOL Global Pte. Ltd, owned by Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan, yesterday said that it would acquire one of the world's oldest social networking sitesm, Friendster, which immensely popular in Southeast Asia, for an undisclosed sum.

Under the deal, Friendster will be fully acquired by MOL Global, an affiliate of online payment firm MOL Access Portal. The principal shareholder of MOL is Tan Sri Vincent Tan, the chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, a leading, diversified Malaysian conglomerate that has annual revenues in excess of $1.8 billion.

Tan has substantial assets across Malaysia and the region, including retail franchises such as Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Borders, Krispy Kreme, Wendy's and Papa John's Pizza among others.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Friendster, a privately-held company founded in 2003, is backed by a group of investors that include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and IDG Ventures, which have collectively invested over $45 million.

In August 2008, Friendster hired ex-Google regional managing director of South Asia, Richard Kimber as CEO to focus on its expansion in Asia.

The site currently has over 110 million registered users worldwide and over 61 million unique visitors a month globally. It receives approximately 19 billion page views per month, and over 90 per cent of its traffic comes from Asia, where it has more monthly unique visitors than any other social network in Asia.