That may sound like a lot of money, but considering News Corp (Fox News, The Wall Street Journal ) paid $580 million for the social network in 2005, that’s a loss of… let me pull out my abacus… $545 million dollars ! News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch after learning of his company's financial loss. According to Metal Insider (yeah, that’s right), “the purchase will also reportedly include as many as 50% of MySpace’s staff getting laid off (just six months after [giving] the pink slip to 47% of its staff).” News Corp’s initial asking price was $100 million, but it seems they were eager to get MySpace off their plate before the end of the fiscal quarter. Bought by advertising targeting firm Specific Media , it’s reported that the site will shift it’s focus entirely to music (which is about all it’s been good for the last several years), but with YouTube/Vevo being such a big dog in the online music game, we’ll see if one of the pioneers of social media still has any fight left in it.
Leave a reply