Yahoo Is Looking To Make A Social-Networking Buy

Yahoo has been busily shopping around its assorted businesses—but it’s also on the lookout to make an acquisition of its own.
Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh tells Reuters that Yahoo wants to buy a company that would let it become a larger player in social networking. “I can guarantee you there will be some acquisitions, and we will do some stuff in house,” he said.
The company has had lackluster success in the space on its own. It closed its year-old social-networking site, Yahoo Mash, last August, and it basically closed down another attempt, Yahoo 360, a year before that.
Yahoo has tried to make a big entry into the space via an acquisition before, reportedly offering as much as $1 billion for Facebook three years ago.
So what might Yahoo be interested in buying now? Reuters does not provide any color, and it’s not clear how Balogh is defining social networking—a category that include messaging services like Twitter and blogging services like Live Journal. However, several properties come to mind. AOL had been said to be interested in selling its social networking site, Bebo, although Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes denied that last month.
Another social-networking site with big reach—but a somewhat questionable future—is hi5, which laid off half of its staff last month after it was reportedly unable to raise additional capital.
Source: Forbes.com.