News Corporation has slashed the staff of MySpace worldwide by a reported 50% and is closing all of its operations outside the United States, including Australia.
Staff in Sydney, where MySpace is HQ’d in Australia, were told this morning that they were out of work.
MySpace CEO Mike Jones announced the cutbacks as a “significant organizational restructure”. About 500 employees of the worldwide 1,100 staff have been made redundant.
Jones said the changes were to make a “clear path for sustained growth and profitability”. The Wall Street Journal, also a News Corp property, has reported that the company is planning to sell MySpace. The WSJ reported that Yahoo has been approached as a potential buyer.
MySpace reported a loss of $165 million in the financial quarter ending September 30, 2010. News Corp bought the site for $580 million in 2005 but since then the rise of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has decimated the MySpace audience.
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