Last week, MySpace, News Corp's flagging social networking giant, laid off 400 domestic workers. Today, the company announced it would be cutting its international staff by 300. "With roughly half of
MySpace's total user base coming from outside the U.S., maintaining productive and efficient operations in our international markets is important to users worldwide and our immediate financial
strength," MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said in a statement. "As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the U.S., MySpace's staffing had become too big and
cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions. Today's proposed changes are designed to transform and refine our international growth strategy."
While the cuts were
expected, sources tell Silicon Alley Insider that MySpace is actually much worse off than either Van Natta or News Corp Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller expected when they took over the company a
few months ago. "Specifically, user-engagement and revenues are in shambles," Nicholas Carlson says. The silver lining is that both Miller and Van Natta are moving fast-Van Natta has now cut MySpace's
bloated staff by half, while Miller is busy restructuring Fox Interactive Media into "portfolio companies that will either sink or swim."
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