Half of MySpace staff are let go

News Corp's MySpace has announced it is laying off close to half its staff, a move seen as preceding a sale of the former Internet social-networking leader as it transforms into an entertainment site.

The restructuring affects about 500 employees, or 47 percent of the company, and comes after weeks of speculation on technology blogs about the cuts.

People close to News Corp have said privately that the media giant is not involved in sales talks.

However, MySpace's plummeting revenues will determine its attractiveness for would-be buyers like private equity firms or even Yahoo Inc, according to some reports.

The restructuring will affect all divisions and regions, Chief Executive Mike Jones said in a statement Tuesday.

"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.

The former top dog of Internet social networking, MySpace has become dwarfed by Facebook. MySpace still gets around 60 million visitors a month, but is way behind the 150 million scored by Facebook, according to comScore data.

MySpace said Tuesday it will make "strategic local partnerships" in Britain, Germany and Australia to manage advertising sales and content.

Source: Global Times