Yes, Rupert Murdoch just sold Myspace to Specific Media for $35 million, but what’s got everybody especially chatty is that Justin Timberlake bought a minority stake from the new owners and plans to do more than just shell out cash. Mr. Timberlake will be given his own office at Myspace and will be directly in charge of six Myspace workers. It’s thought that Timberlake’s new role will involve creative direction for the beleaguered site and brand.
Apparently, Timberlake left his role as Facebook’s Sean Parker on the set of David Finch’s “The Social Network” with quite a few enduring ideas about social media. Johnny Wright, Timberlake’s manager since his boy-band heyday, reported that the day after making the deal, Justin sent him an email saying: “Are you up? My mind is going dizzy with ideas. I need to talk.”
On their side, Specific Media, the online advertising firm based in Irvine, CA has publicly said that Myspace will undergo a refocusing on music. Once a thriving social networking destination, Myspace has been losing users to Facebook in a staggering manner and its last owners were unable to keep it profitable. The $35 million deal, completed last week, was considered to be a financial relief for Murdoch’s News Corporation, despite having paid $580 million to acquire it back in 2005.
Article by Pierre Zarokian of iClimber, a Social Media Marketing Company.
