Time Warner Invests in Leading Online Teen Hangout Gaia Online

Investment follows deals with major brands to bring immersive, engaging experiences to the nearly three millions teens in Gaia Online.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) January 9, 2008 -- Gaia Online, the leading online hangout for teens, today announced that Time Warner Inc. has made a strategic investment in the company in a Series B funding round. Gaia Online is a social environment where teens come to hangout, have fun and express their individuality through customizable avatars, homes and cars; casual games; arenas for creative writing and artwork; discussion forums on thousands of topics; and virtual spaces such as movie theaters, drag races and towns.

"This investment is further validation for the original vision of the Gaia Online founders, who simply setout to create a fun and engaging place for teens to express themselves online," said Craig Sherman, CEO, Gaia Online. "We've been able to develop a compelling user experience that keeps teens coming back, but there is no shortage of things for us to work on. In the coming months we will continue to invest in the community by adding new features and functionality that our users have been asking for."

The Gaia Online community boasts nearly three million unique users per month, with members spending an average of more than two hours on the site per day. The Gaia economy sees 100,000 transactions each day and Gaia's forums have already exceeded a billion postings.

"We view Gaia Online as a company with a bright future and are excited to be able to help them continue their evolution as a business," said Rachel Lam, Senior Vice President, Time Warner Investments. "We have been impressed by Gaia Online's growing and extremely loyal user base and the low barrier to entry. It is also clear the management team has a solid understanding of who their users are and is squarely-focused on delivering a unique experience that will be appealing to that group without compromise."

Last month, Gaia Online announced a partnership with Warner Bros. to make both free and pay-per-view versions of the legendary studio's films available in Gaia's virtual cinemas. A recent partnership with Toyota's Scion division similarly revealed the level of teens' engagement with the Gaia - within 24 hours of making virtual Scion xB cars available, more than 90,000 had been acquired, customized and drag-raced.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

About Gaia Online:
Founded in 2003, Gaia Online is the leading online hangout on the web. Millions of teens come to Gaia every month to make friends, play games, watch movies in Gaia Cinemas, Gaia's virtual theaters, and participate in the world's most active online community. Gaia provides a fun, social environment that inspires individuality and creativity. With everything from art contests to discussion forums on poetry, politics, celebrities and more, to fully customizable profiles, digital characters and cars, Gaia is a place where teens can create their own space and express their individual style. For more information, visit www.gaiaonline.com.

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