News Corp. chief operating officer Chase Carey admitted at a media conference that the company is open to all options when it comes to MySpace, its once-mighty social network that is struggling to compete or even stay relevant alongside Facebook and Twitter in the social media arms race.
"If there’s something there that makes sense you ought to think about it,” Carey said in response to a question about a possible sale Monday at the Reuters Global Media Summit.
Carey said as much during News Corp.'s most recent earnings call, telling investors that Myspace’s losses were “not acceptable or sustainable,” and hinting that if things didn't turn around quickly, a sale or closure would be considered.
In either case, it would be a black eye for Rupert Murdoch, who paid $580 million for MySpace in 2005.
To be fair, Carey prefaced his answer to the sale question by saying, “There are opportunities here to do 20 things but that doesn’t mean you’re going to do any of the 20." And MySpace did just recently roll out a Facebook-like redesign across its entire site, one that Carey is pleased with.
But something's gotta give. News Corp.'s digital media segment reported an operating loss of $156 million during the last quarter, due mostly to MySpace's slump. Even an ego as big as Murdoch's has a breaking point.
