News Corp finally sells MySpace

29 June 2011 Last updated at 21:12 GMT MySpace had been a leader in the social networking revolution News Corporation has sold its ailing social networking site MySpace to online advertising firm Specific Media.

News Corp paid $580m (?361m) for MySpace in 2005, but users and advertisers left the site for rival social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The sale terms were not disclosed, but there were unconfirmed reports that price paid was as low as $35m.

Pop star and actor Justin Timberlake will take a stake in the business, Specific Media said.

He will play "a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company moving forward," the company said.

Specific Media was founded in 1999 by three brothers - Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook - and is based in Irvine, California.

MySpace was a leading social networking site when it was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

But the business was eclipsed by rivals, and despite attempts to revive MySpace's fortunes the site has been a financial millstone.

Continue reading the main story Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent, BBC News

Mr Murdoch can comfort himself by reflecting that if his social adventure ended badly, another media giant fared much worse”

End Quote The Reuters news agency cited a News Corp-owned blogging site as reporting that MySpace was sold for $35m.

Specific Media said: "We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation."

Losses

News Corp's chief operating officer Chase Carey said in November that the losses at MySpace were "unsustainable".

Although News Corp does not publish specific results for MySpace in its accounts, the "other" segment, which includes the social network, reported a second quarter operating loss of $156m - $31m worse than a year earlier.

According to tracking firm comScore, MySpace had 21.8 million unique monthly US visitors in August 2005 compared with Facebook's 8.3 million.

By May 2011, Facebook's monthly US visitors had risen to 157.2 million compared with MySpace's 34.9 million, comScore said. Facebook has nearly 700 million members worldwide.

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Spider-Man musical finally opens

15 June 2011 Last updated at 09:31 GMT Reeve Carney stars in the lead role in Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark Troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark has officially opened to mostly harsh reviews.

Although critics agreed the latest reworked version was clearer, most blasted the show.

The Hollywood Reporter called the show a "bloated monster" while The New York Times branded it "a bore".

The musical had been delayed six times after being plagued with technical hitches and injuries to the cast since it first began previewing in November.

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said mostly "cosmetic improvements" had been made to "this significantly overhauled but still terminally clunky reworking".

"In terms of narrative clarity and character definition, the show is sharper.

"But while the emergency surgical team has injected fanboy humor and self-conscious acknowledgements of the production's rocky gestation, they have not located a heart in this bloated monster," he wrote.

Ben Brantley from the New York Times echoed the sentiment, adding the show had gone "from jaw-dropping badness to mere mediocrity".

The Washington Post's Peter Marks admitted that while the new show was "a definite upgrade" to its previous version, "this effects-driven musical is still situated a wide canyon's distance from good".

While Entertainment Weekly blasted the score, composed by U2's Bono and The Edge "a mostly lacklustre collection of forgettable tunes that play like B-sides".

Score composers The Edge and Bono from U2 along with original director Julie Taymor attended the opening

"The lyrics are a consistently baffling, mumble-mouthed mush... they sit there, advancing neither character nor story," it said.

However, critics generally praised performances from lead actors Reeve Carney, Jennifer Damiano who plays Mary Jane and Patrick Page as the Green Goblin.

Rooney said Carney and Damiano's voices "blend well" while The Telegraph's Charles Spencer noted their "confident performances".

The Associated Press summed up its opinion by saying: "It may not be the best thing in theater, but it is far from the worst show in Broadway history."

Despite its negative publicity since first opening in preview, the $70m (?43m) show has been selling out at New York's 1,928-seat Foxwoods Theatre.

Among the celebrities on hand for opening night were former President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, actors Matt Damon, Steve Martin and Liam Neeson, rapper Jay-Z, director Spike Lee, Lord Lloyd Webber and former tennis player John McEnroe.

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