MySpace â€" the News Corp-owned social networking site which in recent months had sought to reinvent itself as an entertainment portal â€" is set to axe more than half of its staff ahead of a sale later this year, it is being reported today.
According to news service Reuters and financial news service CNBC, the sale could take place by mid 2011.
Most MySpace staff are in the US. However, Australia is among its largest international hubs.
The new look and direction for the site was unveiled in October.
However, in November, News Corp’s chief operating officer Chase Carey hinted that a sale could be on the cards if the situation did not improve.
At the time of posting, MySpace’s Australian office had not responded to Mumbrella’s invitation to comment.
Comments
4 Jan 11
9:02 am
too little too late?
Where Myspace used to win for content and community was via its social cache, an “x†factor and innovation, on the basis of this it once and burned bright…now the ad dollars have new places to hang out
Incidentally the founders seem to be doing very nicely in other areas of social; Brett Brewer killed it with Super Rewards, the virtual currency and gaming platform.
4 Jan 11
2:59 pm
I love the concept of MySpace as a platform and think the new direction of MySpace is certainly relevant.
However for so long now MySpace has been so poorly managed. Interacting with the local team has been like like trying to draw blood from a stone. There has been a constant stream of turn over of staff and the replacements almost always have been inexperienced and unqualified. Doing business with MySpace has been expensive and always a major let down.
Better they leave the market and be sold/rep’d through the News network or an ad network. Leave it to the professionals guys. Adios.
4 Jan 11
6:34 pm
News repped myspace/FIM in 06 and some of 07 and the FIM sales team have done a better job revenue wise than News ever did. The problem is now they have to sell a product that isn’t really cool in the eyes of marketers (who are a good 3-4 years behind the rest of society generally and have just now cottoned onto Facebook) so it’s not a home run easy sell when you have to spin declining traffic and bad press.
If myspace moved to outsourced sales it may as well close the doors completely as you could they would say goodbye to anything aside cheap standard display campaigns. It had an OK music product that is now a bit weathered, but whether that is an ‘asset’ that can be sold is another thing entirely.
5 Jan 11
5:16 pm
MySpace broke new ground in terms of social networking on an international scale. Snaps to it !
Kudos to those who backed themselves in and made the jump with the hope that the Goodship MySpace could have steered a more succesful path.
Reevesy’s point that some of the founders are doing nicely in other places may prove that the wrong team took over and ran her to ground.
Laura is right in saying that some clever people once walked the decks however the smart ones saw the icebergs they jumped off quickly a few years back.
It takes talent to see the future… it takes balls to try and make it your own !
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