It's hard to remember the days when MySpace was the largest social media network in the world, and sites like Facebook and Twitter were just an idea following in its shadow. But the website's former chief executive Chris DeWolfe remembers these days quite well, and now he is coming out to place blame where he believes blame is due.
DeWolfe told the Telegraph on Sunday that he still believes Rupert Murdoch's purchase and sale of Myspace under News Corp. was the cause of its eventual downfall. DeWolfe told the Telegraph on Sunday that Murdoch threw away $15 billion in shareholder money while MySpace was under the ownership of News. Corp.
“[Murdoch] made a big blunder in announcing our potential revenues," DeWolfe said. "He went to [Wall] Street and said, 'MySpace will do $1 billion of revenue and $250 million in profit.'"
Murdoch's News Corp. bought the social media website in 2005 for $580 million, an investment that seemed promising at a time when MySpace actually trumped Facebook in popularity. However only six years later, News Corp. handed off the company to Specific Media in 2011.
Murdoch later admitted his failures openly to the public, confessing on Twitter that he "screwed up" in overseeing the company.
"Many questions and jokes about My Space.simple answer - we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons," he wrote.
But apparently DeWolfe did not accept this as a sufficient apology or excuse for the ultimate toll that Murdoch's actions took on the website.
“[Mr Murdoch] writes on Twitter, 'Crappy MySpace’. Well, if Facebook was worth $20bn or $30bn then, MySpace was worth at least $15bn, so shame on you for letting $15bn go to waste and selling it for $30m a year and a half later," he told the Telegraph.
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