HISTORY OF FRIENDSTER

Friendster was founded by computer programmer Jonathan Abrams and Peter Chin in 2002 in Morgan Hill, California before the creation, launch and adoption of MySpace, Facebook, and others.

Friendster was founded to create a safer, more effective environment for meeting new people by browsing user profiles and connecting to friends, friends of friends and so on, allowing members to expand their network of friends more rapidly than in real life, face-to-face scenarios.

Friendster.com went live in 2002 and was quickly adopted by three million users within the first few months. Publications includingTime, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly and Spin wrote about Friendster's success and the founder appeared on magazine covers and late-night talk shows. Friendster's rapid success inspired a generation of niche social networking websites including Dogster and Elfster. 

Today, Friendster has a membership base of more than 115 million registered users and continues to grow in Asia. According to Alexa, the site has suffered an exponential decline in traffic in America since 2009. From a peak 40 ranking it reached 800 in November 2010. Most people have since attributed this decline to the rise of Facebook, a rival social networking site.

In August 2008, Friendster hired ex-Google executive Richard Kimber as the CEO. Kimber is focusing on Friendster's expansion in Asia.

On December 9, 2009, it was announced that Friendster has been acquired by MOL Global, one of Asia's biggest Internet companies. MOL Global is funded by one of Malaysia's successful businessmen, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Chairman and Chief Executive of Berjaya Corporation Berhad.

Financial history

The company was originally founded in 2003 with a $12 million investment by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, and private investors.

In 2003, Friendster management received a $30 million buyout offer from Google, which they declined.

Friendster received another $3 million in funding in February 2006 led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital. In August 2006, Friendster also received $10 million in funding in a round led by DAG Ventures, and Friendster announced in August 2008 that it had raised an additional $20 million in funding in a round led by IDG Ventures. Prior to its acquisition by MOL Global, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures and individual investors.