• BusinessWeek, Thursday, March 12, 2009 12:01 PM

Things have looked better for MySpace, the one-time king of social networking. Having lost its crown to Facebook, MySpace's user growth is now flattening out, key executives are leaving to start new companies, and ad revenue for 2008 is expected to come in well below the company's stated goal of $1 billion. Amidst the turmoil, BusinessWeek interviews MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, who is also rumored to be on his way out.

Nevertheless, DeWolfe "is in full spin mode" for the interview, says BusinessWeek's Robert Hof. He starts by touting MySpace Music, the six-month old joint music venture with the major record labels that will soon allow its 18.1 million music customers to start purchasing concert tickets and band merchandise. MySpace is also planning to beef up its other media offerings, like games and sales of virtual merchandise. "Too bad you're not here a month from now," DeWolfe says.

One of the reasons MySpace's user growth has slowed down recently is that DeWolfe and company have been mostly focused on making more money rather than attracting new users. One wonders whether that's a smart strategy, given Facebook's phenomenal international growth. "I don't know Facebook's profitability," DeWolfe says. "But if I could have 300 million people using MySpace or be profitable, I would take profitability." Meanwhile, MySpace may soon be left out in the cold by partner Google, whose search revenues represented as much as 40% of MySpace's total haul last year.

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