Who Founded MySpace and When Was It Launched
MySpace was co-founded by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe in 2003 as a social networking platform that allowed users to create profiles, share photos, and connect with friends. The service launched in August 2003 and quickly grew into one of the most visited websites in the world, surpassing Google in global unique visitors in April 2006. At its peak, MySpace had more than 75 million monthly active users and became the dominant social network before Facebook overtook it in traffic and engagement Forbes.
Tom Anderson served as the public face of MySpace as president, while Chris DeWolfe acted as CEO during the early years of rapid growth. The founders built the platform while working at the media and entertainment company eUniverse, which later rebranded as Intermix Media and became the parent company that controlled MySpace during its formative years Business Insider.
How MySpace Was Sold and Who Acquired It
In July 2005, News Corporation, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, acquired MySpace and its parent company Intermix Media for about $580 million in cash and stock. The deal marked one of the most high-profile acquisitions of the early social media era and placed MySpace under the umbrella of News Corp's digital division, which later became part of the company now known as Fox Corporation SEC filing.
After the acquisition, MySpace continued to expand its features, music partnerships, and advertising business, but it struggled to keep up with Facebook's faster innovation and cleaner user experience. By 2011, the platform had lost the majority of its user base and market relevance, and News Corp began exploring strategic options for the declining social network.
Who Owns MySpace Now and What Happened to the Platform
In June 2011, Specific Media and Justin Timberlake jointly acquired MySpace from News Corp for a reported $35 million, with the goal of relaunching the platform as a music-focused social network. Under this new ownership structure, MySpace shifted its focus toward artists, labels, and music discovery, while retaining the legacy profiles and content of its earlier user base Forbes.
Today, MySpace is owned by Viant Technology, a digital media and data analytics company that acquired Specific Media and the MySpace assets in a transaction completed in 2016. The platform still exists online, but it has a minimal modern user base and primarily serves as an archive for early social media content, with most of its active social features effectively dormant Business Insider.