MySpace sold for $ 35 million

Like Tila Tequila and the other celebrities he’s created, MySpace seems to be heading towards the popular culture trash heap. News Corp. sold the struggling first social network to Specific Media, an advertising company, for $ 35 million. That’s a steep drop from the $ 580 million News Corp. paid in 2005. News Corp. had been buying MySpace for some time, but had hoped to get at least $ 100 million, a far cry from the $ 1 billion valuation it once boasted. It will halve its staff from 400 to 200, and a C-suite sweep is expected. Specific would be interested in collecting data on MySpace users that it could use for ad targeting, but MySpace also gives the major ad player their own – decent enough – space in which to place ads.