Industry News

Lots of movement over at Myspace this week, if reports are accurate.

It all started with reports that the company would be laying of some 150 staffers on Wednesday, or around 37% of employees. That comes after nearly half of its workforce was let go earlier in January.

Obviously the layoffs are all part of a process to make the company more attractive to potential buyers. And on that note, Kara Swisher at AllThingsD says Myspace parent company NewsCorp hopes to complete the deal by Thursday, its fiscal year end.

She names two new names as potential buyers-Specific Media and Golden Gate Capital. Specific Media is an ad network, while Golden Gate Capital is a private equity firm. Both are reportedly interested in the Myspace Music joint venture.

That could present an interesting problem for any buyer, which would not automatically get the same music streaming rights as Myspace enjoys today because music licensing deals typically don't transfer with a sale. But in this case, since the major labels own a portion of Myspace Music, they could negotiate rights transfers along with a sale if that proved to be the key point of interest.

While NewsCorp was looking for a sale price of around $100 million, the numbers being tossed around now are more in the $20 million to $30 million range.