Gaia Online, the fastest growing online hangout for teens, announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as the overall winner among the AO 100 Top Private Companies for 2007. The fifth-annual elite AO100 list was compiled by the AlwaysOn editorial panel. In order to be eligible for the AO100 list, companies had to be peer-nominated, with AlwaysOn receiving more than 1,000 nominations from venture investors, investment bankers and other industry experts.

    The Gaia community boasts more than two million unique users per month, with members spending an average of more than two hours on the site per day. Gaia's forums have exceeded a billion postings with a million new posts being added each day, and the Gaia economy sees more than 190 million in Gaia Gold transactions per day. Gaia Online is a social environment where teens come to hangout, have fun and express their individuality through customizable avatars, cars and homes; 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.

    "Gaia Online's success is reflected in the incredible devotion of our members to the Gaia community, which comes because we work so hard to listen to our users and provide the most fun, most engaging experience on the Web for teens," said Craig Sherman, CEO, Gaia Online. "We're honored that AlwaysOn has acknowledged Gaia's accomplishments so far, and we're thrilled to be recognized among so many other innovative companies in the AO 100."

    The idea behind the AO100 top private companies list is to identify the most promising entrepreneurial opportunities and investments in the global technology industry. Gaia Online and the AO 100 Top Private Companies for 2007 will be honored at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit to be held July 31 - Aug 2, at Stanford University. The Stanford Summit is a two-and-a-half-day executive gathering that highlights the significant economic, political and commercial trends affecting the global technology industries.

    The Stanford Summit's goal is to identify the most promising entrepreneurial opportunities and investments in the global tech industry. The Stanford Summit is a two-and-a-half-day executive gathering that highlights the significant economic, political and commercial trends affecting the global technology industries. The Stanford Summit features the most innovative companies, eminent technologists, influential investors and journalists in keynote presentations, panel debates and private company CEO showcases.