LONDON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Proceeds of US$140 Million Represent Nine Times Original Investment

Balderton Capital, the leading European venture capital firm, is pleased
to announce that it has entered into an agreement to sell its 15.7% stake in
Bebo (http://www.bebo.com) to AOL, which is to acquire the global social
media network. The proceeds of the sale due to Balderton Capital are
approximately US$140 million, more than nine times the original sum invested.

These returns make Bebo one of the most successful European internet
investments of recent years. Another Balderton investment, MySQL, the
fast-growing open source database company, was recently sold to Sun
Microsystems for a price of approximately US$1 billion.

Balderton Capital is the only institutional investor in Bebo. It provided
first-round financing of US$15 million in May 2006 to assist Bebo to develop
its business model. Balderton has been Bebo's strategic partner, assisting
the company to become the leading networking site in the UK and Ireland and
one of the largest social networks worldwide. Founded in 2005 in California,
Bebo has 11 million unique users in the UK alone, and more than 40 million
members in total.

Barry Maloney, one of the partners in Balderton Capital, and a director
of Bebo since May 2006, said: "We got involved in an exciting and competitive
investment in Bebo because we believed in the social networking space and the
fact that Bebo was positioned for exponential growth. Our expectations for
Bebo have been exceeded in a relatively short period of time, and today's
transaction with AOL has delivered an exceptional return on our original
investment in 2006.

"We wish the company continued success under its new ownership, and would
like to congratulate the founders Michael and Xochi Birch, Joanna Shields,
President of Bebo, and her management team. We are pleased that Joanna will
continue to run the business for AOL, one of the world's great media
companies.

"This investment is what Balderton does best: back entrepreneurs with
cash and expertise, working in partnership to help to develop the founders'
dreams and to deliver great returns for stakeholders."

About Balderton Capital

Balderton Capital is one of Europe's largest venture capital
firms, committed to finding and helping talented entrepreneurs build great
companies. Based in London, it manages approximately US$ 1.5 billion in
committed venture capital.

Since 2000, Balderton has invested in over 70 companies across a wide
variety of technology sectors and geographies, including throughout Europe,
and in the US and China. Notable investments include Bebo (the leading social
networking site), Betfair (online betting exchange), Codemasters (video games
developer and publisher), Habbo Hotel (teen social networking site), MySQL
(open-source database business) and Setanta Sports (the European sports
broadcaster).