News Corp. Sells MySpace for a Mere $35 Million
Company paid $580 million for site six years ago.
June 29, 2011 — -- News Corp. has sold its ailing social media site, MySpace, to Specific Media for a reported $35 million -- after buying it for $580 million six years ago.
Specific Media, a California-based company that helps firms buy advertising across the Web, confirmed the purchase in a press release, saying News Corp. would take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. It called MySpace "a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space."
It did not reveal what it paid for the site, but AllThingsD, which first reported the sale, said the price was $35 million.
Significant job cuts are expected at MySpace. The site was an early leader in social media, but has lost out to Facebook and Twitter.
When News Corp. bought MySpace in 2005, it bested rival bidder Viacom for what was then a highly contested property.
In August 2005, MySpace had about 22 million visitors a month in the U.S., compared to 8 million for Facebook, according to numbers from the measurement firm ComScore.
Currently, Facebook has about 157 million U.S. visitors a month, while MySpace has just fewer than 35 million.
