Last month, Michael Arrington reported that Bebo was close to a sale.

Currently Bebo brings 40 million users to the table which adds to AOL’s 80 million

The goal is to fuse AIM and ICQ and create a thriving social network around them.

Currently Bebo brings 40 million users to the table which adds to AOL’s 80 million.

The deal comes just one week after AOL’s launch of Open AIM 2.0, an initiative that allows the developer community greater freedom to access the AIM network and integrate AIM into its sites and applications, and the announcement by Apple of a downloadable AIM application for the iPhone.

”Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,” said Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO, AOL. “What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.”

”AOL understands the shifting dynamics of the Web and has clearly demonstrated its commitment to leveraging the ever-increasing power of social networks,” said Bebo President, Joanna Shields, who will remain running the company from San Francisco and will report directly to Ron Grant. “With one and the same vision in this area, it was a natural progression for Bebo to join AOL, and we look forward to working together to continue to expand the online social experience globally.”

Caroline McCarthy of CNET had an interesting take on the deal, “Still, at the core, the Bebo acquisition is all about the advertising. It comes at a time when AOL is still struggling to make the transition to a leader in online advertising after amassing nearly $1 billion worth in acquisitions–Tacoda, Buy.at, Quigo, and AdTech, to name a few–into its Platform-A ad network, as well as social-media buys like Goowy. But it’s still an uphill climb for AOL. Just this week, the company confirmed that Platform-A president Curt Viebranz was departing the company amid a management shakeup.”

I think AOL is in a position to finally transcend from its roots as a dial-up Internet provider to a full-blown media network and user-driven community. If nothing else, AOL is a player and not giving up without a fight. And, judging by some of its recent moves, it may just make it to the next iteration of the Web.