Who Bought Myspace From Tom
Myspace was sold by its co-founder Tom Anderson and the original parent company to a group of investors led by Specific Media and Justin Timberlake in June 2011 for a reported $35 million. The deal was handled by the investment bank MCG Capital, and the transaction was structured as an acquisition of the Myspace domain and core assets. At the time of the sale, Myspace had lost its position as the most visited social network in the United States to Facebook, and the new owners aimed to relaunch the platform as a music-focused entertainment destination. The acquisition price was a fraction of the $580 million that News Corp had paid for Myspace in 2005, and the deal was widely seen as a fire sale for one of the early internet's biggest brands. Specific Media, a digital media company focused on music and entertainment, took over the brand and began a major redesign under the leadership of former Myspace CEO Tim Vanderhook and Justin Timberlake, who joined as a creative partner and strategic investor in the new Myspace.
What Happened After the Sale
After the 2011 acquisition, Specific Media and Justin Timberlake rebranded Myspace as a music and entertainment hub, but the platform struggled to regain users and relevance. The new Myspace launched a redesigned interface and focused on streaming music, artist pages, and curated playlists, but it failed to attract a large enough audience to compete with Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. By the mid-2010s, Myspace had become a shadow of its former self, and in February 2016 the parent company sold Myspace and its music assets to the time-tracking and project management software company Time Inc., which later became part of the Meredith Corporation portfolio. Under Meredith, Myspace continued to operate as a music discovery site, but it no longer functioned as a major social network, and the platform's user base and cultural influence continued to decline as newer services dominated online music and social interaction.
Current Status and Legacy
Today, Myspace is owned by Viant Technology, a digital media and technology company that acquired the Myspace domain and remaining assets as part of a broader portfolio purchase. The site still exists at myspace.com, but it functions primarily as a music streaming and artist promotion platform with a very small user base compared to its peak years. Myspace's legacy endures as a cautionary tale in tech history about the rapid rise and fall of social networks, and its early user data loss during a server migration in 2019 became a widely reported symbol of the fragility of digital content. The story of who bought Myspace from Tom Anderson and how the platform evolved is frequently cited in discussions about internet culture, digital asset valuation, and the challenges of reviving legacy web brands.