Roommates, MySpace TV's online serial that launches Monday, is like JenniCam without the tedious waiting around.
45 seconds into Episode 1: "This is my big, beautiful bed." Bounce bounce bounce as shot switches to black-and-white spy cam aimed at bed.
65 seconds: "Oh my gosh! You guys! I'm changing!"
You get the idea.
MySpace plans to double its workforce over then next year to add features, expand and compete with Facebook. The company also wants to expand to 30 countries from the 23 it's in. "We'll run out of people in the U.S. Our goal is to be No. 1 in every market and the biggest Web site in the world,'' says MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. With Google hiring continuing unabated and Facebook wanting to double its workforce as well, where are all the employees going to come from? Sergey, Chris and Zuck: I will blog for options.
Do you hear the people sing? Rupert Murdoch did today, when nearly a quarter of investors spoke up for greater democracy within the oligarchical nonsense that is NewsCorp. At the corporation's annual meeting in New York, 23% of shareholders voted to change the current dual class voting structure to a 'one share, one vote' model. The Murdoch clan's control of 30% of the voting shares makes it unlikely the rebelling shareholders will get their way. The Guardian notes that "Defending the status quo, Mr. Murdoch said protection from takeover bids was beneficial to shareholders because it allowed the management to take more risks." Okaaay.
After claiming in August that Fox Interactive Media — News Corp.'s Internet division, which includes MySpace — would generate revenue exceeding $1 billion next year, Rupert Murdoch has gently lowered expectations. News Corp. now says they will reach "about $1 billion" in Internet revenue in its 2008 fiscal year, which ends next June. [Silicon Alley Insider]
The deal that MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson got from Rupert Murdoch will pay them more than every exec at News Corp. except Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. Nikki Finke notes that their pay package is particulary impressive because News Corp. is stingy with executive compensation. The pair are rumored to receive $15 million spread over two years — plus equity in MySpace China.
CONFONZ AT THE WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — While the rest of the world prepares for Halloween, there was a significantly scarier sight on display yesterday at the Palace Hotel. You truly know the web 2.0 "revolution" is over when the suits outnumber the geeks. Granted, the Palace isn't exactly a geek haven. And the pricing of badges for the conference is certainly out of the range of most of your average Web coders. But it's easily within the grasp of venture capitalists, marketing weenies, and CEOs. And that's just who attended this, the second Web 2.0 conference of the year.
What are the terms of the new contract between MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson with their corporate daddies at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.? "$30 million over two years," suggests Valleywag —which sounds a lot less cute when you put it as "News Corp countered with an offer of $15 million each spread over 2 years," as Nikki Finke did. But, but, that's only $7.5 million a year! How are they supposed to party like rock stars? [DHD]
When I got home from covering the Web 2.0 Summit keynote with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, I found the following email in my inbox: "This information is not for on-the-record use, it’s simply a background overview for your reference if you‘re planning to cover tonight’s discussion." Funny, I never recall asking for this document, let alone agreeing to keep it off the record — an arrangement that, in my experience, requires the mutual consent of reporter and source. So here, forthwith, are News Corp.'s official talking points about Wednesday night's event. Contrast them with my live reporting. Of most vital interest: The new San Francisco office is hiring 200 people.
WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — "I'm happy to say I'll have a job for the next two years," says Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, on stage with conference organizer John Battelle and his boss, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, confirming widespread rumors that he and MySpace cohort Tom Anderson had renewed their contract to run the social network for another two years. "I had to go from the nickel-and-dime newspaper culture, to the magazine culture ... to Hollywood and the Internet culture," says Murdoch, nodding to the reported — but unconfirmed — figure that DeWolfe and Anderson would make: $30 million over two years. More live coverage, after the jump.
A News Corp. source is confirming that MySpace honchos Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe — the site's founders in name, if not in fact — have signed new contracts. How much did it take to keep the pair from bolting MySpace, even as it keeps losing ground to rival social network Facebook? It's been reported the pair demanded two-year deals worth $50 million each, but word is they got about half that. Even then, are they worth it? Here's a graph that will keep News Corp. investors awake at night.
Looks like tomorrow's rumored MySpace announcement is, as we heard, related to an instant-messaging deal. According to a press release just sent to Valleywag, the big announcement is a partnership between the News Corp.-owned social network and eBay's Skype, which offers both VOIP and IM. What a pairing, between the undervalued MySpace, likely worth billions more than the $580 million News Corp. paid, and the written-down Skype, now worth billions less than eBay thought it was. The bottom line: Now you can call your MySpace friends right from the "add me" page! The full press release after the jump.
Shriveled-up megamogul Rupert Murdoch, the pint-sized force behind News Corp. and MySpace, is presenting the keynote at tomorrow's Web 2.0 conference. What big surprise does he have planned for the audience? As we mentioned last week, it's not going to be the rumored MySpace platform launch — that's still a ways away. In our inbox today landed a wild, juicy rumor which reeks of bullshit but is too hot to keep for ourselves. The email said that Murdoch will announce the acquisition of widget maker RockYou, a top Facebook-application developer, and the rumored price is a shocker — a cool $800 million.
News Corp. continues efforts to prove that it didn't pay $580 million for the Michael Bolton of social networks. Its latest tack: remaking MySpace into a true destination, not just a place for bands to advertise. Its latest attempt is a new licensing deal with Sony BMG that allows MySpace to stream music videos and audio from the label group's catalog in exchange for a share in sponsorship and advertising revenues. No doubt MySpace is trying to get a jump on the rumored Facebook music platform. No chance, of course, that it will first work on actually making the site navigable.
Earlier, we scoffed at the idea that Facebook's traffic could have dropped in September. Compete.com — the poor man's ComScore, which makes its traffic data publicly available — just released September data that shows a similar drop. Maybe Facebook has peaked. More likely: since the kids returned to college, the free time they had to screw around on Facebook this summer has disappeared in favor of schoolwork and frat parties. MySpace, Orkut and Bebo were all down in September too. Amid the hysteria about Facebook's traffic dropping, everyone seems to have forgotten that Facebook traffic was down last September as well.
Former Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner confirms our scoop that MySpace will not announce a software platform for third-party apps next week. According to Quittner's source, MySpace will instead reveal a "directory of apps" — what Quittner calls a "PR move" to show off internal MySpace programs. The main takeaway: TechCrunch was wrong — to the dismay of application developers, who are clearly enthusiastic for an alternative to Facebook. [Netly News]
So, Tuesday night, former Seventeen editor and current girly-empire-building MySpace queen Atoosa Rubenstein goes to ridiculous Lower East Side hotspot The Box. Some trannies were doing a show, with some person of indeterminate gender stripping for a midget and simulating fellatio. (Louche times!) The climax of the act: Shim/herm stands up and has what looks like ejaculate running down his/her face. Atoosa is in a booth right in front of the stage there. And the M.C. says, "See, girls, this is why you should always swallow." And then looks right at Atoosa, and says, "You don't look like you swallow. You look like a guzzler."
British Internet users spend 11 minutes a day on social networks. Want something more interesting than that? Nielsen/NetRatings thinks Facebook is the top social net in the U.K. ComScore says they're No. 3 behind MySpace and Bebo. Either way, we're glad they didn't poll the Valley — based on an informal survey of our peers, we probably waste three hours a day on Facebook. [Times Online]
