Could Google buy the troubled social networking site, MySpace? The Beverly Hills-based MySpace, owned by News Corp., will likely be laying off as many as half of its workers and selling the company after years of bleeding revenue and users to rival Facebook.
Mountain View-based Google just inked another deal with MySpace two weeks ago, but it's not expected to be anywhere near the $900 million first given in 2006 when MySpace was at its height of popularity.
EMarketer estimates ad spending on MySpace for 2010 will fall to $347 million, down from $470 million a year ago. Advertising revenue is also expected to drop again in 2011, and News Corp. knows its partnership with Google, even a less profitable one, is a part of its survival.
Several onlookers have suggested that Google purchase MySpace, especially after all the money it sank into the failing venture. Google has bought out several companies (namely Jambool and Slide) that will be eventually integrated into a to-be-developed and unnamed social network. So why not skip some research and development and start with the skeleton of MySpace?
Zynga, Facebook's premier game developer, is also being rumored to be interested in taking over MySpace, but AllThingsD bets on a private equity buyer.
