Los Angeles – News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Tuesday confirmed
reports it was preparing for a massive round of layoffs, announcing that it
will cut 500 employees, or nearly half (47%) of its total workforce. "The
new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop
products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side,"
said MySpace CEO Mike Jones. "We are also committed to rebuilding the
company with an entrepreneurial culture and an emphasis on technical
innovation."
The company additionally said it will now enter into
strategic local partnerships to handle advertising sales and content in the U.K.,
Germany and Australia.
Having steadily lost ground to Facebook as a social
network, in October MySpace rebranded as an entertainment portal.
"These
changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no
way reflect the performance of the new product," said Jones, who noted
that since the new site was launched, MySpace has added 3.3 million new user
profiles, and seen an uptick in mobile users, counting 22 million last month.
News
Corp., which acquired MySpace for $580 million in 2005, said in November that
it is exploring options including a sale of the company.
Related Links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110111-709747.html
http://tinyurl.com/4crrnle
(PaidContent)
They’re pretty much taking their moves straight out of AOL’s post-merger downslide into a craptacular entertainment portal.
Adding insult to injury, not only is myspace no longer considered relevant to the social web, but this news isn’t even seen to be worth commenting on.