MySpace to Take Entertainment Tack

0

News Corp. is planning to position its MySpace unit as a Web site for accessing entertainment and related information. The plans follow other recent moves by the media giant to try to reinvigorate the social networking site as it steadily loses ground to Facebook Inc.

In a brief interview an annual meeting of media and technology executives in Sun Valley, Idaho, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said MySpace needs to be refocused “as an entertainment portal.” Mr. Murdoch described his vision for MySpace as a place where “people are looking for common interests.”

Murdoch didn’t elaborate on his plans for MySpace but his comments are consistent with what the company is considering, people familiar with the situation said. The entertainment plan follows announcements last month by MySpace that it would cut 30 percent of its U.S. staff and up to two-thirds of its international staff.

The moves follow a dramatic reversal of fortunes at MySpace as Facebook last year surpassed the company as the world’s largest social networking site. The entertainment tack is an attempt by MySpace to build on an existing strength as a Web site for recording artists and bands to showcase their music and find fans.




Read the full

Wall Street Journal

story (subscription required).

No posts to display