News Corp denies plans to offload troubled MySpace
NEWS Corp has denied suggestions it is trying to offload its $580m (£383m) social network MySpace.
The firm’s digital chief Jonathan Miller said there have been no discussions to sell the site, claiming reports to the contrary were “fabrications”.
He said: “We are definitely not in any ongoing talks for a sale of MySpace.”
Miller said News Corp is planning another reinvention of the beleaguered site with a relaunch expected later this year. A year ago News Corp executives talked about relaunching it as an entertainment hub.
MySpace has fallen from being one of the internet’s fastest growing sites to an anachronistic weight around Rupert Murdoch’s neck in just five years.
Speculation abounds it will go the same way as Bebo – also a once promising social network – which AOL is close to selling for a fraction of the $850m it paid in 2008.
MySpace has also lost several top executives including co-president Jason Hirschhorn last month. Hirschhorn, with fellow co-president Mike Jones, replaced former chief executive Owen Van Natta just four months earlier.
Its fate has been in stark contrast to rival Facebook, which exceeded 500m users this year.
• Will Lewis, the former Daily Telegraph editor who earned plaudits for breaking the expenses scandal, is set to join News Corp as group general manager. He will coordinate editorial spending across the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World.