News Corp sells MySpace to Specific Media for $35 million
Today News Corp. announced it has sold its struggling social networking site MySpace to ad firm Specific Media for $35 million. The selling price is a far cry from the $580 million News Corp paid for MySpace in July 2005.
A press release from News Corp, acquired by AllThingsD, quotes Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook: “There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fueling connections with relevance and interest.”
For a few years, News Corp has been trying to shop MySpace to other suitors, asking for at least $100 million. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was reportedly interested in the music-focused social network but the deal fell through for undisclosed reasons.
News Corp is unloading a site whose traffic has plummeted since its high point in 2006. The number of new unique users decreased 11 percent and its monthly pageviews is reported to be 18 million (partly thanks to Facebook stealing market share). In 2006, its monthly pageviews hovered close to 30 billion.
MySpace’s new owner is among the largest online advertising networks in the U.S. and “helps marketers buy digital ads across the Web, online video, mobile and even the TV,” the Wall Street Journal writes. Specific Media is based in Irvine, Calif., and has raised more than $110 million in funding.