Murdoch bought Myspace's parent for $580 million. Myspace sold for $35 million.
In July 2005, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp agreed to buy Intermix Media, the owner of Myspace, for about $580 million in cash. That August, Myspace had about 22 million US visitors a month and Facebook had 8 million, ABC News reported from comScore data.
In August 2006, Google agreed to pay News Corp's web unit at least $900 million for search ads, tied to traffic and other commitments.
Co-founder Chris DeWolfe later told Businessweek: "When we did the Google deal, we basically doubled the ads on our site."
Facebook overtook Myspace in April 2008. In June 2011, News Corp sold Myspace to Specific Media for a reported $35 million. In January 2012, Murdoch wrote on Twitter that they "screwed up in every way possible."
For anyone who signs a platform contract with a revenue floor: read which number it pays for, and ask who on your team will be measured on it.
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Myspace News Corp
What the captions say
- This is the story of how Murdoch's News Corp bought Myspace's parent for about $580 million, then sold Myspace for a reported $35 million.
- In August 2005, Myspace had about 22 million US visitors a month. Facebook had 8 million.
- Six years after the deal, Murdoch would admit his mistake in one tweet.
- It began in July 2005. Media rival Viacom wanted Myspace too. Murdoch's company won the fight, and paid in cash.
- Murdoch called it an important acquisition, "instantly doubling the number of visitors to our sites."
- In August 2006, Google agreed to pay News Corp's web unit at least $900 million for search ads, tied to traffic and other targets.
- But the money came with ads. Co-founder Chris DeWolfe later told the magazine Businessweek: "When we did the Google deal, we basically doubled the ads on our site."
- Inside Myspace, a former marketing chief said changes that would work better for users were delayed, because they would reduce page views.
- Meanwhile, Facebook kept growing. In April 2008, Facebook overtook Myspace.
- By June 2011, Facebook had more than 4 times Myspace's US visitors.
- That month, News Corp sold Myspace to a buyer, Specific Media, for a reported $35 million.
- In January 2012, Murdoch tweeted: "we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons."
- Back in August 2005, Myspace had almost 3 times Facebook's US visitors.
