Official: MySpace cuts nearly half its workforce

Is the MySpace logo half empty or half full?
Is the MySpace logo half empty or half full?

It's official, MySpace has announced that it is to cut half its workforce, some 500 jobs, in a massive restructuring of the site.

MySpace CEO Mike Jones issued a statement regarding the heavy lay-offs, which will affect 47 per cent of the site's staff, saying: "Today's tough but necessary changes were taken in order to provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability.

"These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product."

New MySpace

The new product Jones is referring to is MySpace's transformation from social-networking site to a hub for music and entertainment.

To reiterate how 'well' the new MySpace is doing, Jones noted: "Since the worldwide rollout of the new MySpace, there have been more than 3.3 million new profiles created.

"We have already seen a rise of four percent in mobile users just between November to December, now totaling over 22 million."

It's not looking good, however, for the UK contingent of MySpace. The UK side of the company is set to have something of a skeleton staff with "partnerships" coming in to handle advertising for the UK, Australia and Germany.

The new MySpace logo is unfortunately prophetic of the state the company is in. Whoever decided to lop off half the logo (My[___]) and replace it with a blank space will be kicking themselves, now that half the workforce has gone the same way.

Interestingly, this snipping of the workforce may mean that MySpace, as the rumours persisted in saying, won't be sold after all.

Via CNET

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.