MySpace announced today that it will eliminate two thirds of its workforce outside the United States in an effort to cut costs and narrow its international coverage.
The social networking site, which is a division of News Corporation, parent company of The Times, will close offices in at least four countries and cut 300 jobs. The UK is the company’s biggest base out side of the US. Though dozens of British jobs may be at risk, it is thought most of the cuts will be made elsewhere.
The move comes a week after the social networking site cut more than 400 jobs in the US — or 30 per cent of its American workforce.
Owen Van Natta, the chief executive, said: “As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the US, MySpace’s staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions.”
The former Facebook executive became the chief executive of MySpace when Chris DeWolfe, the former chief executive and co-founder, stepped down two months ago.
News Corp has been trying to bring its staffing level more in line with Facebook. Recent data from comScore, the internet traffic analysts, shows that Facebook has caught up with MySpace in monthly US visitors for the first time.
News Corp bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. Since then, MySpace has had difficulty increasing its number of users, which stands at about 125 million worldwide, while Facebook has said that its usage has doubled to more than 200 million in less than a year.
MySpace plans to trim its international work force to about 150 employees from 450 and said that it will have to consult on the plan with international workers in some countries.
The company said that the restructuring applies to all of its international units and will leave London, Berlin and Sydney as its primary international hubs.
Offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and Spain will be looked at for potential reductions. However, MySpace China as well a presence in Japan will not be affected by the changes. (Via Times)