The news today is that Justin Timberlake has joined up with a California Based Digital Agency, Specific Media, to buy what’s left of MySpace has been met with gasps of amazement and amusement in equal measure.
Why would someone who seems to be rational look to buy a basket case such as MySpace, particularly as it’s costing $35 million? Or is the fact that it’s only $35 million, when Rupert Murdoch paid around $100 million for it in 2005, a stroke of genius?
Commentators seem to agree that the main issue with the site is that it has no strategic focus, although it is regarded as a good place to find new up and coming musical talent, so does having a musician at the helm mean that it can finally find a niche and start to generate sufficient profit to make it worthwhile?
As with all these things, time will tell, but in the meantime he’d better hope that Google’s new social offering, the +1 group that was announced yesterday, doesn’t steal any of the market space that MySPace currently operates in, otherwise it’s bye bye $35 million….
