Myspace Gets Roomier--Slashes 5% of Workforce

Image via CrunchBase

Myspace: new owner, same curse.

The social networking site focused on streaming music and discovering new artists, laid off five percent of its staff in what CEO Chris Vanderhook termed a consolidation aimed at moving the beleagured company toward operating in the black, according to an article last Friday in the Los Angeles Business Journal (www.labusinessjournal.com).

The 10-year-old Myspace was purchased for a song by Specific Media Group and singer/actor Justin Timberlake in June 2011, for roughly $35 million from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which shelled out $580 million to acquire the company in July 2005.  Although Myspace last month boasted gains to 36 million visitors, up from 24 million in June, ComScore paints a bleaker picture, citing an 81 percent decline in traffic to the site from June 2011, to August 2013, the LA Business Journal article reported.

The company did not specify the number of staffers pink-slipped, but the Journal article estimated that 14 workers were terminated based on the 290 employees Myspace lists on LinkedIn. Once the prettiest girl in the room until Facebook emerged, Myspace unveiled its made-over Web site in January.