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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Francis Bacon work sells for £18m

29 June 2011 Last updated at 07:56 GMT An anonymous telephone bidder bought the Francis Bacon portrait A Francis Bacon painting has sold for nearly ?18m at auction in London on Tuesday.

Study for a Portrait 1953 exceeded expectation as Christie's had valued the masterpiece at ?11m.

The oil canvas, which has not been up for auction before, was described as "an arresting and dark study in the degradation of power".

It was previously owned by two of Bacon's contemporaries - Rodrigo Moynihan and Louis Le Brocquy.

The work was the second most valuable piece to be sold at one of Christie's post-war and contemporary art sales, a spokesperson said.

The highest selling work in this category was Bacon's Triptych, which went for ?26.3m in February 2008.

Other items sold at Tuesday's auction included Lucian Freud's Woman Smiling, 1958-59, which went for ?4.7m. Seven works from the collection of Kay Saatchi went for a total of ?3.9m.

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Picasso painting sells for £13.5m

21 June 2011 Last updated at 21:02 GMT The painting has only been seen in public once before A rarely seen painting by Pablo Picasso has been sold for almost ?13.5m at Christie's auction house in London, exceeding expectations.

Jeune Fille Endormie (1935), a portrait of the Spanish artist's lover, had been estimated to sell for ?9m-12m.

The artwork was donated to the University of Sydney, provided the establishment used money from the sale for scientific research.

Giovanna Bertazzoni from Christie's said the piece was an "absolute jewel".

Marie-Therese Walter was the subject of many of Picasso's celebrated works.

The couple met in 1927 when he was 45 and she was 17. The couple spent time together at Picasso's country home, the Chateau de Boisgeloup, where he created a string of masterpieces.

Nude, Green Leaves And Bust, another portrait of Walter sold last year for a record $106.5m (?65.5m).

Dr Michael Spence from the university said it was a "very generous and far-sighted gift" that was donated to them by an anonymous person.

"We are grateful for their extraordinary generosity and delighted with the outcome of the auction."

He said the money would go towards research into obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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Spencer painting sells for £5.4m

16 June 2011 Last updated at 09:21 GMT Sunflower and Dog Worship, 1937, explores Sir Stanley's notion of universal harmony - with dogs representing the freedom sought by man The auction record for a painting by Sir Stanley Spencer was broken twice within minutes at Sotheby's in London.

Workmen in the House, which had an upper estimate of ?2m, sold for ?4.7m before Sunflower and Dog Worship, with a top estimate of ?1.5m, fetched ?5.4m.

The previous record was the ?1.43m achieved at Sotheby's in December for 1954 work Hilda and I at Pond Street.

Lucian Freud's Boat on a Beach fetched ?2.6m in Wednesday's sale - a record for a work on paper by the artist.

Workmen in the House is one of Sir Stanley's best-known works

Sir Stanley, described by the auction house as one of the 20th Century's most important UK artists, was born in 1891 and lived and worked in the Berkshire village of Cookham, now home to a gallery of his work.

Seven of his works were sold in Wednesday's sale - the first section of a three-part auction of the Evill/Frost collection - for a total of ?23m.

1935 painting Workmen in the House, which depicts the disruption and intrusion caused by tradesmen working in a kitchen, is one of Sir Stanley's best-known works.

Sunflower and Dog Worship, 1937, meanwhile, shows a husband and wife being embraced by giant flowers and explores Sir Stanley's notion of universal harmony.

Sotheby's senior director James Rawlin said a "series of new benchmarks" had been set for Sir Stanley's paintings "demonstrating both the strength of the market in this field and a particular appreciation for the artist's work".

Inherited collection

Lucian Freud's 1945 work Boat on a Beach, which records a trip he made to the Scilly Isles, sold for ?2.6m - way above the upper estimate of ?600,000.

Freud's Boy on a Sofa demonstrates the artist's ability as a draughtsman

Earlier in the evening, his Boy on a Sofa, 1944, which depicts a young boy who tried to break into the artist's flat, sold for ?1.5m.

Freud then persuaded the boy, Billy Lumley, to sit for a portrait.

An artist record for Edward Burra was also achieved with his Zoot Suits - showing a group of men who had just arrived in London from Jamaica in 1948 - selling for ?2.1m.

Highs for artists including Graham Sutherland and William Roberts were also achieved.

Wednesday's sale fetched a total of ?37.5m, compared with an estimate of ?16m, with all lots finding a buyer.

The works being auctioned - described by Sotheby's as the greatest collection of 20th Century British art ever to come to the market - were collected by solicitor Wilfrid Evill between 1925 and 1960.

The collection was inherited and maintained by his ward, Honor Frost, an underwater archaeology pioneer who died last year aged 92.

The second and third parts of the sale take place on Thursday.

Artists up for auction include sculptor Henry Moore and LS Lowry.

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