Friendster Expands Global Executive Management Team
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Mar. 3 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Friendster Hires Senior Vice President of Product, Chief Financial Officer
and Vice President of Business Operations
Friendster, Inc., a top 20 global website based on traffic* and the #1 social network in Asia, today
announced that it has expanded its global executive management team. Friendster appointed Andy Spillane
to senior vice president of product, Nimesh Shah to chief financial officer, and Karin Visnick to vice president
of business operations. These strategic additions will strengthen Friendster's position as a leading global
social network, and help drive growth in Asia and worldwide.
Andy Spillane joins Friendster as senior vice president of product and will be responsible for both product
strategy and product management of Friendster’s portfolio of web and mobile products and services. Spillane
brings over 20 years in product development and management to the team from leading technology
companies including Netscape, AOL, and Yahoo!. Prior to joining Friendster, Spillane served as vice
president of messaging and social media products at AOL where he provided strategic direction and
management for AOL’s messaging & social media products including AIM, AIM Profiles, AIM Chat, and
myAOL. Prior to AOL, Spillane was responsible for the management and direction of the world’s largest
email service as vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Mail. Spillane will be based in Friendster’s
headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Nimesh Shah joins Friendster as chief financial officer and brings more than 10 years of experience in
finance and accounting to the team. Shah previously held the position of finance director while at Fairfax
Digital, Australia's leading provider of online news and classifieds, for the past seven years. Prior to Fairfax,
Shah held senior positions at Ernst & Young, Dell Computer and UUNET. As CFO, Shah will manage
Friendster's global financial planning, statutory and management reporting, auditing and oversee corporate
development initiatives. Shah will be based in Friendster’s Sydney, Australia office, along with CEO Richard
Kimber.
Karin Visnick joins Friendster as vice president of business operations and will manage Friendster’s
worldwide business operations, including customer care, legal, human resources, corporate operations and
business processes. Visnick has more than 10 years experience in business operations, product
management and marketing at both start-ups and more established companies. Prior to her appointment to
vice president of business operations, Visnick was vice president of product management at SNOCAP, Inc.,
a provider of digital licensing and copyright management services for the digital music marketplace, where
she oversaw all product strategy and direction. Prior to SNOCAP, she held executive and management
positions at HSBC and Yahoo!. Visnick will be based in Mountain View, California.
“The addition of Andy, Nimesh and Karin to Friendster’s global executive management team will help fuel
Friendster’s growth in Asia and continue to build on its success as a leading social network,” said Richard
Kimber, chief executive officer at Friendster. “Their combined experience and track record of success at
consumer internet, technology and media companies will help us execute on our product and business
strategies,” he said.
Friendster Leads in Asia and is a Top 20 Global Website
Friendster is the #1 social network in Asia, with over 75 million registered users. Plus, Asia is the largest
market of Internet users (Asia has 41 percent of the world’s Internet users, more than double the 19 percent
from the U.S.), and Asia is the fastest growing region in the world.* Friendster has a loyal and growing user
base throughout Asia in the following top 10 countries: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.
Friendster is a top 20 global website in the world in terms of traffic, serving over 16 billion page views a
month.* Friendster is also a leader in “user engagement” among the top five global social networks, with
About Friendster
With more than 100 million members worldwide, Friendster is a leading global online social network.
Friendster is focused on helping people stay in touch with friends and discover new people and things that
are important to them. Online adults, 18 and up, choose Friendster to connect with friends, family, school,
social groups, activities and interests. Friendster prides itself in delivering an easy-to-use, friendly and
interactive environment where users can easily connect with anyone around the world via
www.friendster.com or m.friendster.com from any Internet-ready mobile device. Friendster has a growing
portfolio of patents granted to the company on social networking, with more expected over the next several
months. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Friendster is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures and individual investors. For more information,
*comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide Data, December 2008
SOURCE: Friendster, Inc.
CONTACT: Lerin O’Neill of The Hoffman Agency
+1-408-975-3037,
cell, +1-408-832-7083
press@friendster.com, for Friendster
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