Rupert Murdoch Sells MySpace at a Loss

The ailing social networking site is finally dumped by News Corp. after users and advertisers disperse to Facebook and Twitter.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation sold its flailing social networking site, MySpace, to online advertising firm Specific Media Wednesday for a reported $35 million. The Irvine, California-based Specific Media also confirmed that actor-musician Justin Timberlake will be taking a stake in the business. MySpace was the leader in social networking when News Corp. bought the site in 2005 for $580 million. Back then, MySpace had 21.8 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, compared with Facebook's 8.3 million. Six years later, MySpace's stats barely improved with 34.9 million monthly U.S. visitors, while Facebook's monthly U.S. visitors sky-rocketed to 157.2 million.