Editing Myspace (section)

===2005–2009: Purchase by News Corp. and peak years===
In July 2005, in one of the company's first major Internet purchases, [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] purchased MySpace for US$580 million.<ref name="business of spam"/><ref name="BBC 2005">{{cite news|title=News Corp in $580m internet buy|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4695495.stm|work=BBC News|date=July 19, 2005|access-date=March 13, 2008|archive-date=October 13, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013114023/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4695495.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of the acquisition, the company was seeing 16 million monthly users and was growing exponentially.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Siklos|first=Richard|date=2005-07-18|title=News Corp. to Acquire Owner of MySpace.com|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/business/news-corp-to-acquire-owner-of-myspacecom.html|access-date=2020-05-25|issn=0362-4331|url-access=limited|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119162201/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/business/news-corp-to-acquire-owner-of-myspacecom.html|url-status=live}}</ref> News Corporation had beat out [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]] by offering a higher price for the website,<ref name="Remember">{{cite news|last=Haden|first=Jeff|url=https://business.time.com/2011/01/12/remember-news-corp-s-brilliant-myspace-buy/|title=MySpace Layoffs Are A Good Reminder how Uncool Rupert Murdock's acquisition of the social media was?|publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=January 12, 2011|access-date=June 30, 2012|archive-date=August 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830050925/http://business.time.com/2011/01/12/remember-news-corp-s-brilliant-myspace-buy/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the purchase was seen as a good investment at the time.<ref name="Remember"/> Within a year, MySpace had tripled in value from its purchase price.<ref name="Remember"/> News Corporation saw the purchase as a way to capitalize on Internet advertising and drive traffic to other News Corporation properties.<ref name="BBC 2005"/>

[[File:Rupert Murdoch Wendi Deng2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Oxfam America]] president Raymond C. Offenheiser, [[Wendi Deng]] and [[Rupert Murdoch]] with MySpace co-founders Anderson and DeWolfe at the 2006 [[Oxfam]]/MySpace Rock for Darfur event]]

After the acquisition, MySpace continued its exponential growth. In January 2006, the site was signing up 200,000 new users a day. A year later, it was registering 320,000 users a day, and had overtaken [[Yahoo!]] to become the most visited website in the United States. ComScore said that a key driver of the site's success in the US was high "engagement levels", with the average MySpace user viewing over 660 pages a month.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite news|title=MySpace clicks to Canada and Mexico|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c95d9e72-aef0-11db-a446-0000779e2340|date=2007-01-28|newspaper=Financial Times|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809054131/https://www.ft.com/content/c95d9e72-aef0-11db-a446-0000779e2340|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2006, Fox announced plans to launch a UK version of MySpace.<ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|date=January 24, 2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4642622.stm|title=MySpace looks to UK music scene|access-date=January 24, 2006|first=Rowan|last=Bridge|archive-date=February 4, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060204205143/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4642622.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> During 2006, MySpace launched localized versions in 11 countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas, including MySpace China with Solstice.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://medium.com/triton-business-review/tiktok-and-the-future-of-us-china-relations-78284ab95b29 | title=TikTok and the Future of US-China Relations | date=August 30, 2020 | access-date=September 30, 2022 | archive-date=September 30, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930045903/https://medium.com/triton-business-review/tiktok-and-the-future-of-us-china-relations-78284ab95b29 | url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, [[Travis Katz]], senior vice-president for international operations, reported that 30 million of the site's 90 million users were coming from outside of the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The 100 millionth MySpace account was created on August 9, 2006, in the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://seekingalpha.com/article/15237-rupert-murdoch-comments-on-fox-interactives-growth|title=Rupert Murdoch Comments on Fox Interactive's Growth|last=Murdoch|first=Rupert|date=August 9, 2006|access-date=September 12, 2006|publisher=SeekingAlpha|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804074202/https://seekingalpha.com/article/15237-rupert-murdoch-comments-on-fox-interactives-growth|url-status=live}}</ref> That same month, MySpace signed a landmark advertising deal with [[Google]] that guaranteed MySpace $900 million over three years, over 55% more than the price News Corporation had paid to acquire the business. In exchange, Google received exclusive rights to provide Web search results and sponsored links on MySpace. When the deal was signed, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said, "When we looked at what was growing on the Web, all our internal metrics pointed to [MySpace] [...] It's important to move Google to where users are, and that is where user-generated content is."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Google pledges $900 million for MySpace honors|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-pledges-900-million-for-myspace-honors/|last=Olsen|first=Stefanie|website=CNET|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=October 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027155850/https://www.cnet.com/news/google-pledges-900-million-for-myspace-honors/|url-status=live}}</ref>

By October 2006, MySpace had grown from generating $1 million in revenue per month to $30 million per month, half of which came from the Google deal. The remaining 50% came from display advertising sold by MySpace's in-house sales team.<ref name="ft.com"/> In November 2006, Myspace announced a 50-50 joint venture with [[SoftBank Group|Softbank]] to launch the site in Japan.<ref>{{Cite news|first1=Julia|last1=Angwin|author1-link=Julia Angwin|first2=Jay|last2=Alabaster|date=2006-11-08|title=MySpace Adds a Friend in Japan|language=en-US|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116290234314615478|access-date=2020-05-25|issn=0099-9660|url-access=subscription|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804164651/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116290234314615478|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=MySpace Enters Japan|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/1348071/myspace-enters-japan|date=2006-11-07|magazine=Billboard|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804234442/https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/1348071/myspace-enters-japan|url-status=live}}</ref>

In mid-2007, MySpace was the largest social-networking site in every European country where it had created a local presence. By July 2007, Nielsen//NetRatings reported the company's "active reach", or the percentage of the population that visited the site, was anywhere from 10 to 15 times higher in Spain, France and Germany than for runner-up Facebook; in the United Kingdom, MySpace led Facebook by two-to-one in terms of reach.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Social Networking in Europe: How MySpace Conquered the Continent - DER SPIEGEL - International|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/social-networking-in-europe-how-myspace-conquered-the-continent-a-493755.html |first=Mark |last=Scott |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=July 11, 2007|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=August 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804084428/https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/social-networking-in-europe-how-myspace-conquered-the-continent-a-493755.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

MySpace would even land deals with major corporations like Sony. In 2007 MySpace partnered with Sony BMG, a Sony record label, to put music directly on the MySpace platform. Sony became interested in MySpace as they had 110 million users and had a lot of musical artists make their start on the platform.<ref>{{Citation | year=2007 | title=MYSPACE AND SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT SIGN NEW LICENSING PACT | url=https://www.sonymusic.com/sonymusic/myspace-and-sony-bmg-music-entertainment-sign-new-licensing-pact/}}</ref>

On November 1, 2007, MySpace and [[Bebo]] joined the Google-led [[OpenSocial|OpenSocial alliance]], which already included Friendster, [[Hi5]], [[LinkedIn]], [[Plaxo]], [[Ning (website)|Ning]], and [[SixApart|Six Apart]]. The alliance's goal was to promote a common set of standards for software developers to write programs for social networks. Google had been unsuccessful in building its own social networking site [[Orkut]] in the American market, and was using the alliance to present a counterweight to Facebook.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/02google.html|work=The New York Times|first1=Miguel|last1=Helft|first2=Brad|last2=Stone|title=MySpace Joins Google Alliance to Counter Facebook|date=November 2, 2007|url-access=limited|access-date=February 22, 2017|archive-date=December 11, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211173736/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/technology/02google.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2793615.ece |location=London |work=The Times |first=Jonathan |last=Richards |title=MySpace and Bebo join Googles lovein |date=November 2, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429135658/http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2793615.ece |archive-date=April 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/7564413/Did-AOL-squander-its-chances-with-Bebo.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/7564413/Did-AOL-squander-its-chances-with-Bebo.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Emma|last=Barnett|title=Did AOL squander its chances with Bebo?|date=April 8, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/building-facebook-killer-no-easy-task-google-787|title=Update: Building a Facebook killer no easy task for Google &#124; Cloud Computing|publisher=InfoWorld|date=June 30, 2010|access-date=October 23, 2011|archive-date=November 26, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126060640/http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/building-facebook-killer-no-easy-task-google-787|url-status=live}}</ref>

By late 2007 and into 2008, MySpace was considered the leading social networking site, and consistently beat out its main competitor Facebook in traffic. Initially, the emergence of Facebook did little to diminish MySpace's popularity; at the time, Facebook was targeted only at college students.

At its peak, when News Corporation attempted to merge it with Yahoo! in 2007, Myspace was valued at $12 billion and had more than 300 million registered users.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/myspace/8404510/MySpace-loses-10-million-users-in-a-month.html|location=London|work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Emma|last=Barnett|title=MySpace loses 10 million users in a month|date=March 24, 2011|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-date=November 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025721/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/myspace/8404510/MySpace-loses-10-million-users-in-a-month.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Steel">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703576204576226620748953038|work=The Wall Street Journal|first=Emily|last=Steel|title=Advertisers Wary of Myspace|date=March 28, 2011|url-access=subscription|access-date=October 16, 2017|archive-date=August 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819181023/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703576204576226620748953038|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/first-time-atlantic-wrote-about-facebook/581902/ What We Wrote About Facebook 12 Years Ago]</ref>