| Criterion Capital Partners LLC. | |
| Type: | Private |
| Foundation: | 2002 |
| Location City: | San Francisco, California |
| Location Country: | U.S. |
| Area Served: | United States Canada United Kingdom |
| Key People: | Christopher Lord (co-founder) David Riley (co-founder) Tomoko Fortune Louis Chang Matt Perona (director of finance) Jeffrey Pisani (director of operations) Sara Parr (director of investor relations) Adam Levin (Bebo) (CEO)[1] |
| Industry: | Internet |
| Homepage: | criterioncp.com |
| Net Income: | N/A |
| Num Employees: | 3 (2010) |
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.
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]