Comments on: Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace?

By: medlaw

medlaw — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:47:11 +0000

“No matter what you may think of Rupert Murdoch, he never overpays” Yes, Rupert looked brilliant in 2005 … until he moved out of his core business (newspapers and television) onto the web. This article does a good job of explaining why myspace makes little sense from a business standpoint as an adjunct to a media company. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/murdoch.html

I see myspace recently laid off 400 employees. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/technology/companies/17myspace.html?_r=1

Rupert’s recent comments about delisting from google have exposed him as utterly uninformed about the web and how it interacts with news / media companies.

By: After Being Out Foxed On The Web, MySpace May Do An About Face(book) |

After Being Out Foxed On The Web, MySpace May Do An About Face(book) | — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:33:32 +0000

[...] owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. No one can seriously believe that when Murdoch paid $600 million dollars for MySpace four years ago he expected MySpace to so quickly fall out off the [...]

By: Imitation and Obsolescence – Facebook Guns for Twitter | Convince & Convert Feed | Online Marketing Connect

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:03:35 +0000

[...] a reported $500 million. Not bad to be sure, but far less than YouTube’s $1.65 billion, or MySpace’s $580 million (in 2005 dollars). Regardless of the soundness of their perceived self-worth, Twitter rejected [...]

By: Snarkasm « Cinie’s World

Snarkasm « Cinie’s World — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:20:30 +0000

[...] the CEOs of two big corporations that own shit like money losing MySpace, Fox News, NBC, and the Pretendident make a pact, reported in the news, to get their on-air [...]

By: The Best

The Best — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:17:10 +0000

Well, hindsight is 20/20 and this was written long ago. But I think we see now, given that facebook has taken over myspace, that the myspace purchase may not have been one of Rupert’s best plays. No?

By: With MySpace Changes, a Social Networking Era Ends

With MySpace Changes, a Social Networking Era Ends — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:29:06 +0000

[...] cohort President Tom Anderson. DeWolfe ran the company from 2003, helped sell it to News Corp., for $580 million in 2005 and later help negotiate $900 million advertising deal with Google. Since then, MySpace has lost [...]

By: CinthiaRAm..

CinthiaRAm.. — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:58:26 +0000

Rubert Bought Myspace for 580 million dollars

By: Uploading! « Seb Giambrone’s Blog

Uploading! « Seb Giambrone’s Blog — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:05:43 +0000

[...] http://gigaom.com/2005/08/06/why-murdoch-bought-myspace/ [...]

By: Digging Those MySpace Add Ons - Buzzsonic.com

Digging Those MySpace Add Ons - Buzzsonic.com — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:08:21 +0000

[...] MySpace Backlash (Wired.com) Feb. 27 2006 Users Crowd Into MySpace (BusinessWeek.com) Nov. 15 2005 Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace? (GigaOm.com) Aug.6 2005 Bookmark This [...]

By: Murdoch and MySpace.. « Mel Scammell

Murdoch and MySpace.. « Mel Scammell — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:27:14 +0000

[...] this nice little piece by Robert Young on gigaom.com (‘Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace?’), it seems he wants to get into the music game by creating an MTV3, if you will: In [...]

By: CAT

CAT — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:54:52 +0000

This analysis from 2005 sure makes sense in the past context. Right now in 2008 Murdoch was said to be offering MySpace to Yahoo or at least stronger collaboration similar to those with Google.

Being entirely based on Microsoft .NET (for those who didn't know it;-) the partnership of what's one of the biggest MS .NET sites in the world with archrival Google makes it a curious form of Mash Up Hybrid,

Certainly if Murdoch offered MySpace to Microsoft it sounded far more logical. At least it's technology they understand ;-)

However, Google's clever stakes in all these companies (Yahoo, MySpace, AOL) makes it almost impossible for each of them to become 100% perfect targets for Ballmer & Co. Bill Gates and Paul Allen may have beaten many competitors like AOL/Netscape, Novell or Apple in the past, but many of their former players are now tending to outsmart his successor Steve Ballmer on more than just one front. Murdoch only plays a minor role, but at least he's a kind of Joker for both sides.

By: Failing Social Networks « Digital Claxon

Failing Social Networks « Digital Claxon — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:57:32 +0000

[...] what I posted on my wall because only people in my network had the ability to view my profile. Once MySpace sold to Rupert Murdoch for half a billion dollars, Zuckerberg got greedy and Facebook changed from a simple site used to keep in touch with your [...]

By: Top 20 Internet Millionaires Under 30 - Rap GodFathers Community

Top 20 Internet Millionaires Under 30 - Rap GodFathers Community — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:10:02 +0000

[...] well i was never to fond of it any way whod he sell it to and why is it not on the list? Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace? – GigaOM [...]

By: money blog » Why Facebook is no threat to Google

money blog » Why Facebook is no threat to Google — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:23:13 +0000

[...] predator being busted for posting a profile there? I’m still wondering if Rupert Murdoch is secretly kicking himself over that one. Another question mark in my brain centers around Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, [...]

By: Social Network Platforms & APIs: Why are developers putting all of their eggs in one basket?

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:53:31 +0000

[...] years ago, MySpace was all the rage. Remember the hype after Newscorp acquired MySpace? Rupert was hailed as a genius by the blogosphere and everyone was asking “how can we reach the MySpace [...]

By: Youth Ministry in a MySpace World « Confessions of a Human Being

Youth Ministry in a MySpace World « Confessions of a Human Being — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 18:36:39 +0000

[...] bit heavy-handed there, eh? Especially since Tom does not own MySpace anymore (Rupert Murdoch bought it a little while ago). And the one preceding it, a bold lie. Just because I choose not to forward on [...]