News Corp sells Myspace

News Corp has sold Myspace for $35 million, a fraction of what it paid for the once-hot social media site even as a new generation of Web-based start-ups is enjoying sky-high valuations.

Advertising company Specific Media will team with the singer Justin Timberlake to acquire Myspace in a deal that caps a tumultuous period of ownership under Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which swooped in to buy Myspace for $580 million in 2005.

At the time, Myspace was among the the world's most popular websites, and News Corp's success in beating out rival Viacom Inc in a bidding war was viewed as a major victory for Murdoch. Since then, however, Facebook has eclipsed Myspace in popularity, and the deal has become a hard lesson in what can happen when a traditional media company imposes its will on a start-up.

Specific Media did not disclose financial terms. It announced that Timberlake, who happens to have played Facebook adviser and investor Sean Parker in the movie "The Social Network", would take an ownership stake and serve a "major role" in developing a strategy for Myspace.

A source familiar with the transaction said the deal is worth $35 million and is a mix of cash and stock. News Corp will retain about 5%.

Additionally, more than half of Myspace's 500-strong workforce is expected to be laid off because of the sale, the source said.

The deal comes after a four-month bidding process in which a number of different possible buyers surfaced, including other social networking sites and private equity firms. The auction had been expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $100 million.