MySpace Sold

Once a rival and competitor to Facebook, the downward spiral of Myspace is no longer the problem of News Corp., or its Chief Executive Offficer Mike Jones, following Wednesday’s announcement that the social network was acquired by digital media outfit Specific Media.

News Corp. paid $580 million for Myspace in 2005, and it was hoping to sell the site for $100 million, but the media giant settled for $35 million, AllThingsD reported.

Under terms of the deal, News Corp. will take a minority equity stake in Specific, and Jones will leave the company following a transition period of about two months. Jones won’t be the only one leaving, however, as he said in his memo to staff, “In conjunction with the deal, we are conducting a series of restructuring initiatives, including a significant reduction in our workforce.”

An exact number of layoffs remains unknown at this point.

The Wall Street Journal speculated that Specific pursued Myspace so it could mine the social network’s user data for ad targeting, adding that two Specific executives previously worked at Fox Audience Network, the News Corp. online advertising unit that sold ads for Myspace.

LAMediaWatch.com