What Was the Myspace Sale Price and Who Bought Myspace
Myspace was sold for $35 million in June 2011 to Specific Media, a digital media company, and Justin Timberlake, the singer and investor. The deal was a fraction of the $580 million News Corp paid for Myspace in 2005, reflecting the platform's sharp decline in users and market value. The transaction was structured as an asset purchase, meaning Specific Media and Timberlake acquired Myspace's brand, domain, user data, and intellectual property, while the original Myspace entity under News Corp was effectively written down as a loss. The sale marked the end of Myspace's era as the dominant social network and its transition into a smaller niche platform focused on music and entertainment. The Myspace sale price of $35 million is widely cited by financial outlets and industry analysts as a case study in the rapid rise and fall of early social media platforms.
The buyer, Specific Media, was a Los Angeles-based digital media and technology company led by CEO Tim Vanderhook and co-owner Justin Timberlake. Timberlake's involvement was strategic, as he aimed to reposition Myspace as a music-centric social network for artists and fans. Specific Media already had experience in digital media and advertising, which it intended to leverage to revitalize Myspace's user base and revenue streams. The acquisition was announced in June 2011 and completed shortly thereafter, with the deal valued at approximately $35 million in cash and assumed liabilities. The sale was confirmed by both Myspace and Specific Media in official statements, and the transaction was reported by major financial news outlets including Forbes, which covered the deal as a significant moment in social media history.
Who Owns Myspace Now and What Happened After the Sale
After the 2011 acquisition, Myspace continued to operate under the ownership of Specific Media and Justin Timberlake, but it struggled to regain its former user base. The platform shifted its focus to music discovery and artist promotion, positioning itself as a competitor to platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp. However, Myspace faced ongoing challenges, including a massive 2019 data migration that resulted in the loss of all user-uploaded content from before 2016, a fact confirmed by the company and widely reported by tech and finance media. In 2016, Myspace was sold again, this time to Time Inc., which later merged with Meredith Corporation, and the brand became part of the media conglomerate's digital portfolio. The current operational status of Myspace is as a music and entertainment-focused social network with a much smaller audience compared to its peak years.
The subsequent sale to Time Inc. in 2016 was not publicly disclosed at a specific price, but industry estimates placed the value in the range of $20 million to $35 million, consistent with the platform's diminished scale. Time Inc., which later became part of Meredith Corporation, used Myspace as part of its broader digital media strategy, integrating it with other entertainment and lifestyle brands. The platform's user numbers continued to decline, and it no longer ranked among the top social networks in terms of monthly active users, a fact reflected in public traffic rankings and industry reports. Despite its reduced prominence, Myspace remains a notable example of how quickly a dominant online platform can lose its market position, and its sale history is frequently referenced in discussions about digital asset valuation and social media evolution.
Myspace Sale as a Case Study in Social Media Valuation
The Myspace sale history offers a clear case study in the volatility of social media valuations. The platform was acquired by News Corp for $580 million in 2005, a time when it was the world's largest social networking site, surpassing even Facebook in global traffic. However, by 2011,