MySpace forges ahead despite really tough times
BEVERLY HILLS -- Forgive Chris DeWolfe if he isn't wildly celebrating MySpace's five-year anniversary. As he prepares MySpace for the next half decade, the CEO of the social-networking behemoth is acutely aware that it will be harder to navigate an economy shaken by recession while slugging it out with Facebook.
"We have not seen an economic climate like this," says DeWolfe. "We're cautiously optimistic. … We're focused on building a sustainable global business which we measure by profits and revenue, not just eyeballs."
He is seemingly everywhere to make his case. At the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. At the Producers Guild Awards in Los Angeles to pick up a technology award previously won by Steve Jobs and George Lucas. At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
It does so in an economy that has claimed thousands of tech jobs and put a damper on online ad spending. DeWolfe and company are betting the ongoing changes expand MySpace's appeal to an older crowd and, by extension, more advertisers in the fiercely competitive multibillion-dollar online ad market.
While its tech brethren slash jobs, MySpace intends to expand its 1,600-person workforce this year, DeWolfe says.
"In the end, we think all these changes will widen the demographics, to 40-, 50- and 60-year-olds," DeWolfe says. "We expect more users and a gradual increase in time spent by existing users." Nearly half of the site's about 130 million members worldwide are 35 and older, says DeWolfe.
Facebook has more members worldwide, with 150 million, but MySpace has an edge in unique monthly U.S. users, 76 million to 55 million, says market researcher ComScore. The bulk of the world's online ad revenue comes from the U.S.
Related Stories
ABC News Live