Myspace

Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated open box symbol) is an American social networking service. Launched on August 1, 2003, it was the first social network to reach a global audience and had a significant influence on technology, pop culture and music. It also played a critical role in the early growth of companies like YouTube and created a developer platform that launched companies such as Zynga, RockYou, and Photobucket, among others, to success. From 2005 to 2009, Myspace was the largest social networking site in the world. In July 2005, Myspace was acquired by News Corporation for $580 million; in June 2006, it surpassed Yahoo Mail and Google Search to become the most visited website in the United States. During the 2008 fiscal year, it generated $800 million in revenue. At its peak in April 2008, Myspace had 115 million monthly visitors; by that time, the recently emergent Facebook had about the same number of visitors, but somewhat more global users than MySpace. In May 2009, Facebook surpassed Myspace in its number of unique U.S. visitors. Since then, the number of Myspace users has declined steadily despite several redesigns. As of 2019, Myspace had seven million monthly visitors. In June 2009, Myspace employed approximately 1,600 people. In June 2011, Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake jointly purchased the company for approximately $35 million. On February 11, 2016, it was announced that Myspace and its parent company had been purchased by Time Inc. for $87 million. On January 31, 2018, Time Inc. was in turn purchased by Meredith Corporation, and the next year, on November 4, 2019, Meredith spun off Myspace and its original holding company (Viant Technology Holding Inc.) and sold it to Viant Technology LLC.