Myspace: How America's Biggest Social Network Went From $580M to $35M

In July 2005 News Corp paid $580 million for Myspace. By May 2008 it had 73.7 million monthly US visitors, more than twice Facebook's 35.6 million, and about $900 million of revenue that year. Then Facebook doubled its American audience in twelve months and passed Myspace in May 2009 by about 50,000 people. Layoffs, an admission of bloat and a pivot to music could not stop the slide: by 2011 US visitors had roughly halved, the sale pitch book projected $109 million of revenue and a $165 million loss, and News Corp sold Myspace for a reported $35 million. Here is the full rise and ruin, with charts built from comScore data. 0:00 Intro 1:01 Part 1: The rise 1:36 Part 2: The $580 million bet 2:35 Part 3: The cracks 4:11 Part 4: The fall 7:40 Why Myspace really failed 8:36 Lessons for your business SOURCES (all charts and timelines are our own, made from these): Wikipedia: Myspace (pointer only) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace Salon (AP): News Corp sells MySpace for $35M mostly in stock https://salon.com/2011/06/29/us_news_corp_... WYSO (NPR): News Corp takes huge loss selling MySpace for $35 million https://www.wyso.org/2011-06-29/news-corp-... CNN Money: News Corp. sells Myspace to Specific Media https://money.cnn.com/2011/06/29/technolog... TechCrunch: Exclusive: The bleak financial numbers from the MySpace sale pitch book https://techcrunch.com/2011/04/12/exclusiv... TechCrunch: Facebook no longer the second largest social network https://techcrunch.com/2008/06/12/facebook... InternetNews: Facebook surges past MySpace in U.S. https://internetnews.com/software/facebook... TheWrap: MySpace slashes staff: 425 jobs cut https://www.thewrap.com/myspace-slashes-st... ClickZ: Facebook doubles audience year-on-year, MySpace continues decline https://clickz.com/?p=58269 TechCrunch: Amazingly, MySpace's decline is accelerating https://techcrunch.com/2011/03/23/amazingl... TechCrunch: MySpace stabilizes unique visitors but all other usage stats plummet https://techcrunch.com/2011/05/11/myspace-... The Register: News Corp Q4: MySpace sale loss https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/11/mys... The Register: MySpace end is nigh https://www.theregister.com/2011/06/07/mys... The FADER: MySpace confirms 12 years of music lost in server migration https://www.thefader.com/2019/03/18/myspac... Hypebot: Official: MySpace cuts staff 30% https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/06/of... Figures are in nominal US dollars unless stated, and come from the filings and reports above. Some series mix restated years; see the sources for detail. This video is commentary and education, not financial advice. Narration uses an AI voice. #Myspace #BusinessHistory #RiseAndRuin