Rupert Murdoch can still be surprised. He told
The Hollywood Reporter he was stunned by the rapid growth of MySpace since his media conglomerate News Corp. bought parent Intermix Media one year
ago. MySpace has had no marketing money spent on it before or after the purchase, he notes. More than anything else, MySpace has proven to be a PR victory for Murdoch and News Corp. To be fair, the
site has more than quadrupled its member-base since News Corp. took it over, but it still amounts to little more than a blip on the company's balance sheet. Murdoch, meanwhile, has appeared in
interview after interview; you'd think he was media person of the year after stealing the company for less than $600 million. It was clearly a great bargain, given the site's incredible growth. But
now the question is: Where will he take the company with that growth? "We have to find ways, without destroying its character, of getting more advertising revenue," says Murdoch. He seems to be in no
hurry, but maybe he doesn't need to be. The site is one of the biggest--if not the biggest--on the Web. And it's only getting bigger.
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