Friendster appoints Google regional MD Kimber as global CEO
by Kenny Lim Media Asia 05-Aug-08, 09:35
GLOBAL - Friendster has appointed Google’s regional MD for South Asia Richard Kimber (pictured) as its new global CEO, succeeding Kent Lindstrom, who has run the social networking site since 2006.
Kimber was selected based on his experience increasing Google’s revenue in Asia-Pacific, opening offices in Singapore and Auckland, plus growing the search engine firm’s Australian and Korean businesses.
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Prior to Google, Kimber served as global head of eMarketing and CEO of HSBC Internet Payment at HSBC Bank USA.
“Friendster is growing at an enormous rate in Asia-Pacific and is clearly leading the competition. I believe this is partly because the internet is transforming the lives of everyone, and it will probably become one of the greatest liberators of our time,” said Kimber.
“With more than 75 million users, it is clear that Friendster has already made a dramatic impact. I look forward to growing our business further as we continue our global growth and strong focus on Asia.”
Separately, Friendster has secured US$20 million in financing through investments from IDG Ventures, a global network of venture capital funds, to enable it to expand in Asia while growing its global user base.
Russ Siegelman, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and chairman of the board for Friendster, added: “Friendster plans to leverage the new funding to focus on user growth, even greater user engagement and monetization, all through new features, new offerings, localization and marketing, for the benefit of over 75 million users worldwide.”
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