News Corp nets just $35m for Myspace
NEWS Corp has sold social media site Myspace for about $35m (£21m) to online advertising company Specific Media, according to a source familiar with the transaction.
The deal, announced yesterday, calls for News Corp to retain a minority stake in the website that it purchased six years ago for $580m, the companies said.
They did not release detailed financial terms, but the source said that transaction is a mix of cash and stock with News Corp retaining about five per cent.
Additionally, more than 50 percent of Myspace’s 500-strong workforce is expected to be laid off because of the sale, the source said.
“There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focussed on enhancing digital media experiences by fuelling connections with relevance and interest,” said Tim Vanderhook, chief executive of Specific Media in a statement.
“This is the next chapter of digital media, and we are excited to have a hand in writing the script.”
Pop star Justin Timberlake is set to take a stake in Myspace as part of Specific’s deal, and will aid the board as a creative consultant. He will unveil his plans for the site later in the summer.
The sale of Myspace marks the end of six years of ownership under Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which swooped in to buy Myspace beating out rival Viacom for what was then one of the world’s hottest social networking sites.
In the US, Facebook has 54.5m monthly unique visitors, compared with 76m for Myspace, according to comScore data released in March.