Sale Price and Transaction Details
Tom Anderson sold Myspace to News Corp for $580 million in July 2005, with the deal structured as a cash acquisition. The transaction made Anderson and co-founder Chris DeWolfe instant millionaires and marked one of the largest social media exits of the era. The price reflected Myspace's dominance as the world's most visited social network at the time, surpassing Google in global traffic by April 2006, according to reports cited by Forbes Forbes.
The sale price did not include assumed debt or ongoing earn-outs, and the final net proceeds to the founders were lower than the headline figure after taxes and transaction costs. Anderson served as president of Myspace under News Corp's Fox Interactive Media unit and remained involved in the platform's strategy during the integration phase. The deal is frequently cited as a benchmark for early social media acquisitions and is studied in business case analyses of the Web 2.0 boom.
Post-Sale Ownership and Later Transactions
News Corp sold Myspace to Specific Media and Justin Timberlake in June 2011 for $35 million, a dramatic decline from the original purchase price. The sale reflected Myspace's sharp loss of users and market share to Facebook, which had overtaken it in global unique visitors by 2008 and consolidated the social networking market. Specific Media rebranded the platform and focused on music integration, but Myspace never regained its former relevance as a primary social network.
In February 2016, Time Inc acquired Myspace and its parent company Specific Media from Viant Technology for an undisclosed sum, with the intent of using the Myspace domain and user data for digital media and advertising purposes. Time Inc later merged with Meredith Corporation, and the Myspace brand became a legacy property with minimal active user base. The successive ownership changes illustrate how quickly social media platforms can rise, peak, and decline in value.
Tom Anderson's Career After Myspace
After the sale, Tom Anderson remained at Myspace as president until 2009, when he transitioned to a strategic advisor role and eventually departed the company. He has since focused on angel investing, personal projects, and public commentary on technology and social media trends. Anderson is widely recognized as a pioneer of early social networking and is frequently quoted in profiles of the Web 2.0 generation of founders.
He has maintained a public profile through social media and occasional interviews, where he discusses the Myspace sale, the evolution of social platforms, and lessons from the early internet era. Anderson's net worth is primarily derived from the Myspace proceeds, and he is listed among the notable entrepreneurs who achieved significant wealth from early social media exits. His career trajectory is often compared to other founders from the first generation of social networks who sold at peak valuations.