New director says bye-bye to Bebo

The internet entrepreneur who last month agreed to become the UK director of Bebo, the fast-growing website popular with teenagers, has decided to quit for another venture, turning her back on an equity stake potentially worth millions.

Shaa Wasmund is to team up with Dan Wagner, who now runs Venda, which provides e-commerce sites for many leading retailers. Wagner is best known in the City as the head of Maid, an often-controversial online information company that later changed its name to Bright Station. Wagner and Wasmund are to work on a yet-to-be-revealed residential-property business.

Wasmund said she had turned her back on “a fantastic deal” with Bebo because of her desire “to build something up from the ground”. She and Wagner had been talking about working together for a while, but he finalised his plans shortly after she took the Bebo job.

Michael Birch, the British founder of Bebo, was understanding about Wasmund’s reasons for leaving. “Shaa’s great,” he said. “She’s very entrepreneurial. I want to keep working with her in some way."