MySpace to lay off 400 employees: Report

The company,owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp,faces a company-wide restructuring,which would include an evaluation of its global operations. It would employ 1,000 in the US after the cuts,the report said.

“Simply put,our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” the daily said quoting MySpace Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta.

MySpace was acquired by News Corp for USD 580 million in 2005.

“MySpace’s slow erosion has led some to second-guess Murdoch’s initial vision,as the company has yet to harness the power of the social network as a platform for his company’s deep trove of films and television shows,” the report noted.

Attributing to comScore,the daily said,MySpace was the largest US social network until last month,when it was overtaken by Facebook. MYSPACE-JOBS 2 LST According to the report,in the US,Facebook reached 70.28 million unique visitors,while MySpace reached 70.26 million.

Facebook overtook MySpace as the world’s most popular social network last year.

Murdoch in March tapped Jonathan Miller,a former chief executive of Time Warner’s AOL,to oversee the digital strategies of the media conglomerate’s sprawling portfolio with a focus on fixing MySpace,the daily noted.

Miller promptly replaced the senior executives of MySpace,including its co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson. In April,he hired Owen Van Natta,a former Facebook chief operating officer,to lead MySpace’s recovery.

MySpace’s new leaders are now faced with the task to slash costs with the vigour that characterised its three-year global expansion,the Financial Times said.

“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace,” said News Corp chief digital officer Miller was quoted as saying.

“I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward,” Miller added.