The News Corp. property, once valued at an astronomical $1 billion, will be sold for $35 million to Specific Media, which will cut MySpace’s staff in half. Specific Media, an advertising network, will be able to use members’ personal data to further target ads — it’s kind of like the digital equivalent of buying a car for the parts. News Corp., which bought the company for $580 million in 2005, will retain a sub-5-percent share and, probably, a bitter taste in its mouth.
Update: Specific Media says Justin Timberlake (method-acting after the fact?) will have an ownership stake in MySpace and “play a role in its future,” though what precisely that role is remains to be revealed. MySpace still isn’t cool, though. You know what’s cool? A billion MySpaces.
