MOL, arguably the largest online payment provider in Southeast Asia is certainly making headlines recently. The Malaysian based company has acquired the declining Friendster by the end of 2009 but many have questioned the decision back then.
"Why on earth the acquisition is worth $100 million?"
There isn't any clear strategy being announced (until today) and we can't argue on why people are being skeptical.
That is, until the announcement of Facebook-MOL love relationship this month, in July 2010.
"A few years ago, Ganesh (the CEO of MOL) can't get response from Facebook but today they email him!" - quoted here.
So, what makes Facebook talking? It is the social networking patents MOL inherited from Friendster, and Facebook wants to own it and avoid the craps in the future.
We can well assume that MOL might have already been eyeing on Facebook during the Friendster acquisition. Smart move no doubt, and you get Friendster as a bonus, social gaming perhaps?
Of course, there is also bonus at Facebook end by allowing MOL into their ecosystem.
MOL itself owns a strong virtual currency ecosystem in this region, which is hugely popular for gaming and micro-transactions. The key is, MOLPoints can be reload via MOL’s network of over 500,000 physical (notably 7-11s), online banking and mobile payment channels.
The core markets for MOLPoints are Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India. These are also in line with the key growth markets for Facebook.
There are still many consumers in this part of the world do not use credit card for online purchases, especially the younger age group. As the matter of fact, Facebook Credits can only be purchased using credit cards and PayPal at the moment.
MOLPoints will enable this group of people to buy and spend Facebook Credits on Farmville, Bejeweled Blitz and so on, which will only be great for Facebook.
Tell me. isn't that a love relationship when both parties
