• Venture Beat, Thursday, February 3, 2011 12:23 PM

Apparent for some time, News Corp.'s desire to unload MySpace is now palpable. "With a new structure in place, now is the right time to consider strategic options for this business," News Corp. COO Chase Carey told analysts on Wednesday. "The new MySpace has been very well received by the market and we have some very encouraging metrics. But the plan to allow MySpace to reach it's full potential may be best achieved under a new owner." Carey's comments came on News Corp.'s latest earnings report, which included a $275 million writedown for its digital media business -- "stemming largely from MySpace," according to VentureBeat.

"It seemed clear from his tone that the company is done with the social network," notes MediaMemo. "Last month MySpace management said it was considering selling the ailing site, following the firm's decision to lay off half of its 1,000-strong workforce," The Register writes. "Now it's explicitly wooing would-be suitors to take the site off its hands." Indeed, paidContent adds, "If it were ever in doubt, it now seems clear News Corp.'s latest big cutback to the service last month was to get it in shape for some kind of sale."

Still, "There's little surprise that MySpace might be offloaded, but the real question is, who would buy it?" The Next Web points out. "The problem is that ... its brand is tainted by the smell of failure. Once users started abandoning the service, it quickly became labeled as the social network of the past."

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