Company history
Tuenti was founded as a Social networking service in 2006 by a group of friends in Spain. Zaryn Dentzel, Felix Ruiz Hernandez, Kenny Bentley, Adeyemi Ajao and Joaquín Ayuso de Pául were the key people who worked together to bring Tuenti to life.[4] Dentzel's first experience in Spain was on a students exchange program that took him to Cabeza del Buey (Badajoz). Bentley, the lead programmer, came to Spain after having worked in social networking in the United States.[5] In the beginning, the project was aimed to university students, but due to its success, they opened to everyone, although it was only possible to register with an invitation.[6] Years later the register was opened to everyone, in an attempt to make it available globally, with the only extra requirement of giving a phone number. Zaryn Dentzel has chronicled the story of Tuenti in a book called El futuro lo decides tú.[7]
Although the name sounds similar to the English word twenty, it actually comes from "tu [id]enti[dad]", meaning "your identity".[8] The service was originally targeted at the Spanish market, but in 2012 it was made available globally.[9] The organization has employed more than 250 employees from more than 21 countries.[10]
Google Zeitgeist's 2009 listed Tuenti as the third fastest-rising global search.[11] In 2011, it was estimated that more than 15% of the web traffic in Spain was on Tuenti, which at that time in Spain meant more traffic than Google and Facebook together.[12][13]
On 4 August 2010 the major telecommunications group Telefónica acquired 85% of Tuenti's shares for a total of 70 million euro, becoming its largest shareholder.[14]
In that same year, Tuenti started the development of a light virtual mobile network operator which worked completely under the Movistar (Telefónica) infrastructure. Later, in December, the service, which was still in a developing state, was released to the users of the social network under the brand "Tu".
On 6 November 2013, Telefónica owned 100% of the company after an agreement with the remaining shareholders.[15]
Tuenti launched its mobile operator brand in Mexico, Peru and Argentina in 2014.[16]
During 2014, the company reported that their mobile operator represented 98% of the income.[17] The company attained a global turnover of 21 million euro, 25% more than the previous year.[18][19] Although it was still not positive, this year's financial report was the best since the launching of their mobile business and the acquisition by Telefónica.
In 2015, Sebastian Muriel was appointed as the new CEO of the company.[20] During this year and 2016, Tuenti went through a rebranding and the company reaffirmed its commitment with the mobile market by completely renewing their website, which got rid of all the remaining social elements and functions. Telefónica also started to make important changes in the management team: Sebastian Muriel, along with the social network team became part of Telefónica's I+D team, a division of the company in charge for innovation and new products, while Pablo Ledesma became the new director.[21]
