Rafat Ali takes The Guardian to task for their BBC exclusive:

The BBC has set up a £350m war chest for expansion into social networking on the internet and international acquisitions, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

He points out that in September 2006, the Mail on Sunday reported:

BBC Worldwide is looking to take on commercial media titans such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation by acquiring an internet-based social networking site similar to his MySpace.

The BBC has £350m of borrowings to spend on takeovers.

Ali‘s analysis?

I have my doubts on BBC making any big (or even medium sized) acquisitions in this space. Building is the way to go for them without opening more can of worms politically.