Having probably realized that it’s too late for them to turn it into anything relevant, News Corp. has sold Myspace to Specific Media (a digital advertising company) for $35 million.
That sum is 16.5 times smaller than what News Corp. paid when they acquired the company in 2005 (for $580 million).
Did News Corp. make any money with MySpace? Hard to tell, but the new owners seem keen on making it a profitable asset. They announced that Justin Timberlake will “take an ownership stake” and “play a major role” in its future and said they plan to use MySpace’s social corpse “to deploy socially-activated advertising campaigns, enabling brands to turn their campaigns viral by allowing users to share their favorite ads with friends.”
Wait, what? They think people will flock to the new MySpace to be bombarded with ads and then share the ads with their friends? Oh boy…
If you thought MySpace was a poor investment for News Corp. wait until these guys are done with it. When they’ll try to sell it to some other suckers (and they will), I’m gonna be shocked if they get more than $500 for it.
