Myspace reduces staff by nearly half as site's popularity falls

2011-01-12 08:09:53 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEVERLY HILLS (BNO NEWS) - Social networking website Myspace announced on Tuesday that is reducing its staff by 47 percent, affecting about 500 employees.

"These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product," Myspace CEO Mike Jones said in a written statement.

Among the changes, Myspace, Inc. will create local partnerships in Germany, Australia, and the UK, where it will enter into an alliance with Fox networks. "Today's tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability," Jones added.

According to Jones, Myspace is seeing a rise in returning and new users with more than 3.3 million new profiles being created since the worldwide launch of Myspace. He said that the new organizational structure will allow them to develop products more quickly and attain financial flexibility.

Myspace was founded in 2003 and grew to become the most popular social networking website in the United States by mid-2006. It was later overtaken by Facebook and Myspace's popularity has since fallen dramatically. In mid-2009, Myspace already laid off about 30 percent of its workforce, reducing it to around 1,000.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-12

Not the best investment by Rupert Murdoch.

Don't see much of a future for it myself, why didn't they update it and try and compete with facebook - They had the advantage of a slightly younger generation.

It's a road kill. Good luck trying to sell it.