Justin Timberlake Buys Myspace

By Samantha Olafimihan
SC Staff Writer

To the average public eye, Justin Timberlake looks like a pop-star/sex symbol turned actor. Many loved the film Friends with Benefits in which he co-starred with Mila Kunis from That 70’s Show. Another popular role of his was Facebook investor Sean Parker in the Hollywood hit The Social Network.

Not only is Timberlake a pop culture sex symbol, but he is also a businessman, with many heavy purchases and investments in companies like Stipple, Miso Media and now MySpace. According to Jeff Bercovivi’s article in Forbes Magazine, Timberlake is now a copartners with Tim and Chris Vanderhook, who are the owners of Specific Media Company.

He bought the site from News Corporation last year for only $35 million—a far cry from the hundreds of millions it had grossed in earlier years.

Most remember the website that gave birth to society’s heavy integration with social networking. MySpace was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson (aka Tom) and was acquired by News Corporation in July 2005 for $580 million. From 2005 until early 2008, MySpace was perhaps the most popular social network in the world.

Since the boom of Facebook, MySpace has been left in the dust, leaving Facebook as reigning champ as the most popular social networking site. Timberlake hopes to revamp and take MySpace back to its former glory.

Timberlake, in co-ownership with the Vanderhook brothers, will have his own office within MySpace. In an article by Josh Halliday of The Guardian, Timberlake said in a statement: “There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. MySpace has the potential to be that place.”

The main idea behind the selling of MySpace was to convert it from a social network has-been, to a site dealing more directly with music/entertainment from top selling artists, to those in the underground scene.

MySpace has always been one of the world’s largest music libraries and one of the only sites where fans can listen to all the music of whatever artist they choose.

According to the article written by Bercovici, of Forbes, “After a year of rebuilding both the site’s front-end and back-end, the new site is almost ready for its public debut.”

The site is going through an employee-only beta test period and will eventually be opened to celebrities and then to the general public.

Email Samantha at:
SO4950@live.esu.edu