Technology / Internet
Social Network Gaint MySpace, to cut 500 jobs worldwide
12 Jan 2011 at 17:40hrs | Views
News Corp.'s social network MySpace announced on Tuesday that it plans to lay off 500 jobs worldwide in a bid to streamline operations.
The layoffs will constitute about 47 percent of MySpace's workforce, according to the network.
The announcement came amid reports that MySpace's monthly visitors dropped to 54 million in November, down 3.7 million from a month earlier and advertising revenue fell to 347 million dollars last year, down 26 percent from a year ago,
MySpace Chief Executive Mike Jones said the job cuts were part of the network's restructuring efforts toward profitability as the company is struggling to adapt to market changes following its relaunch last fall as an entertainment destination for Generation Y,a term referring to those in their teens through about age 35.
"These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product," Jones said in a statement.
"The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side."
Jones said the social network's makeover has resulted in an "up- tick" in returning and new users.
Since the worldwide roll-out, he said, there have been more than 3 million new user profiles created, and more than 134,000 topic pages that provide news about music, movies, TV and celebrities.
Moreover, people who follow the site's "Curators" -- or taste- makers with strong opinions in a given discipline -- increased the frequency of visits by 35 percent, according to Jones.
"While it's still early days, the new MySpace is trending positively," Jones said.
MySpace was acquired by News Corp in 2005 for 580 million U.S. dollars. In 2006, Google signed a 900-million-dollar deal to sell advertisements related to user searches on MySpace and some other small News Corp websites for three years.
In December, MySpace and Google announced a multi-year agreement to renew and expand the two companies' search and advertising cooperation. But terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
The layoffs will constitute about 47 percent of MySpace's workforce, according to the network.
The announcement came amid reports that MySpace's monthly visitors dropped to 54 million in November, down 3.7 million from a month earlier and advertising revenue fell to 347 million dollars last year, down 26 percent from a year ago,
MySpace Chief Executive Mike Jones said the job cuts were part of the network's restructuring efforts toward profitability as the company is struggling to adapt to market changes following its relaunch last fall as an entertainment destination for Generation Y,a term referring to those in their teens through about age 35.
"These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product," Jones said in a statement.
"The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side."
Jones said the social network's makeover has resulted in an "up- tick" in returning and new users.
Since the worldwide roll-out, he said, there have been more than 3 million new user profiles created, and more than 134,000 topic pages that provide news about music, movies, TV and celebrities.
Moreover, people who follow the site's "Curators" -- or taste- makers with strong opinions in a given discipline -- increased the frequency of visits by 35 percent, according to Jones.
"While it's still early days, the new MySpace is trending positively," Jones said.
MySpace was acquired by News Corp in 2005 for 580 million U.S. dollars. In 2006, Google signed a 900-million-dollar deal to sell advertisements related to user searches on MySpace and some other small News Corp websites for three years.
In December, MySpace and Google announced a multi-year agreement to renew and expand the two companies' search and advertising cooperation. But terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
Source - Byo24NEWS
