Bringing the curtains down on Rupert Murdoch’s alliance with his one-time prized buyout, News Corp has sold its ailing social networking site Myspace, reportedly for a paltry $35 million.
Once a popular networking site, MySpace has been grappling with tough times especially with the emergence of the hugely popular Facebook.
Digital media entity Specific Media would team up with Grammy-award winning singer Justin Timberlake to buy MySpace.
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Without disclsoing financial details, both News Corp and Specific Media announced the deal on Thursday.
According to the website ‘AllThings Digital’, which is owned by News Corp, the social networking site was sold for about $35 million.
The amount is way lower than $580 million paid by News Corp to acquire MySpace in 2005.
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“As part of the deal, Emmy and Grammy winning artist Justin Timberlake will also take an ownership stake and play a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company (MySpace) moving forward,” Specific Media said in a statement.
Despite many attempts, News Corp could not revive the fortunes of MySpace amid increasing competition in the social networking space.
Specific Media and Timberlake plan to evolve Myspace into a premiere digital destination for original shows, video content and music.
”... I am excited to help revitalise Myspace by using its social media platform to bring artists and fans together in one community,” Timberlake said.
Following the deal, News Corp would take a minority equity stake in Specific Media.
As per ‘AllThings Digital’, the deal includes a halving of Myspace’s staff of 400, as well as other cost cuts.