14 DAY TRIAL // The saga is over, MySpace has been sold to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million a paltry sum by any measure. News Corp. which has owned MySpace for the past six years or so has finally gotten rid of the property which was becoming an increasingly ugly spot on its quarterly financial reports.
The sum is a far cry from the $580 million News Corp. paid for the social network in 2005 and it's a long way from the $100 million it wanted to get for the site now.
But with little interest in the company and News Corp's desire to get rid of MySpace before the end of its fiscal year, which is today, $35 million is the best it could fetch.
Don't feel too bad for News Corp. though, the company has more than recouped its initial investment from advertising over the years, especially in the first few.
MySpace had a very lucrative ad deal with Google which practically guaranteed that News Corp. would be making money with the site.
However, as Facebook started to surge and people to leave MySpace so did the ad money. Revenue has been paltry for the past couple of years and MySpace has been losing money even as it struggled to reinvent itself.
MySpace had a big revamp last year, though most likely the goal was to make it more attractive to potential buyers rather than bring back users.
Neither happened though, MySpace has been a ghost town for years, even as it still attracted about 35 million visitors in the US in May.
And buyers were not impressed, while there was some interest in MySpace, no one wanted to pay too much for it.
"Specific Media, a digital media company, today announced it has acquired Myspace from News Corporation. As part of the agreement, News Corporation will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media. Additional terms of the agreement are confidential and will not be disclosed," the press release read.
"Myspace is a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space. The company has transformed the ways in which audiences discover, consume and engage with content online," said Tim Vanderhook, Specific Media CEO.
"There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences," he added.
Interestingly enough, Justin Timberlake also bought a stake in the company and will be working with Specific Media as a consultant, apparently trying to fulfill MySpace's more recent goal of becoming a place for people to connect with the music and artists they like.