Less than a year after the official launch of the new Myspace – redesigned to become a hub for music streaming and discovering new artists – the Beverly Hills social network has conducted a round of layoffs.

Myspace, acquired by Irvine’s Specific Media in 2011 for $35 million, has laid off 5 percent of its staff, according to a company spokesman.

The spokesman did not disclose the size of Myspace’s staff, but there are nearly 290 employees listed on LinkedIn. That means the layoffs could have affected at least 14 people.

Myspace Chief Operating Office Chris Vanderhook said the layoffs are meant to consolidate the team to bring the website closer to profitability.

“We’re implementing changes at Myspace to support continued innovation and growth by streamlining operations to achieve profitability,” he said in an email statement to the Business Journal. “We appreciate our team’s contributions to Myspace over the years, and are offering outplacement services and severance packages to assist impacted employees.”

Myspace in January rolled out a redesigned website meant to appeal to musicians, artists, photographers and designers.

The company, which is backed by singer Justin Timberlake, in October reported that its audience had grown to 36 million, up from 24 million in June. But according to ComScore, traffic to the site dropped 81 percent from June 2011 to August of this year.