New owner for Myspace: Specific Media
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is parting company with what was once the world's largest online network Myspace after sustained losses. The new owner is the online advertising company Specific Media from California.
The company announced the purchase on Wednesday. However, no price was given. According to reports in the US media, News Corp will receive just 35 million dollars. Part of this will not even be paid in cash, but in Specific Media shares, according to SDA. According to media reports, US pop star and actor Justin Timberlake is also on board as an investor. He has joined My Space as a minority shareholder, as Tim Vanderhook, CEO of Specific Media, reported in an interview with Adage according to Horizont.net.
The media mogul Murdoch paid a whopping 580 million dollars for Myspace in 2005. But that was not all, he also invested heavily in the further development of the website. Nevertheless, the network accumulated ever greater debts since it came under the management of Murdoch's News Corp. And with the rise of Facebook, Myspace's user numbers stagnated. Its younger rival Facebook overtook it and now has around 600 million members. In contrast to Myspace, the social media platform is valued at between 50 billion and 100 billion dollars. The large number of users makes the network interesting for advertising partners.
