Criterion Capital Partners
Private equity firm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Criterion Capital Partners LLC, also known as simply Criterion, was a private equity fund based in Los Angeles, California.[2] It was best known for being the owner of Bebo, from 2010 to 2013.
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Defunct | 2018 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | United States Canada United Kingdom |
Key people | Christopher Lord (co-founder) David Riley |
| N/A | |
Number of employees | 3 (2010) |
| Website | criterioncp.com |
History
Christopher Lord co-founded the company in 2002.[3][4] Criterion acquired social networking service Bebo in 2010. Bebo was previously owned by AOL, who originally purchased the service for $850 million in 2008.[5] The acquisition had failed as Bebo's business was declining. AOL sold the company for less than $10 million to Criterion.[6][7] Following the acquisition, Bebo's business did not improve. In April 2012, the minority shareholders filed a $5 million suit against Criterion for “destroying the site". Then in May, TechCrunch reported that Bebo filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[8][9]
In 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was shutting down.[10]
