MySpace to Lay Off 50 Percent of Workforce

NEW YORK - News Corp.'s MySpace is preparing to unveil a major round of layoffs as early as this month in its latest restructuring step, the Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by News Corp., reported Monday.

The social networking site has roughly 1,100 employees, but the report didn't detail the amount of likely job cuts. CNBC's Julia Boorstin reported that the network is eyeing cuts of around 50% of its workforce. A MySpace spokeswoman wouldn't comment.

MySpace recently redesigned its site to emphasize the discovery of entertainment content, such as music, comedy and games. It also renewed a search deal with Google, but at a lower guaranteed price.

In an earnings conference call in November, News Corp. deputy chairman, president and COO Chase Carey had said that MySpace has quarters rather than years to turn around and signalled a possible sale if improvements don't materialize. The Journal said no talks are currently taking place, but Boorstin said there have been some meetings related to a possible sale that could happen by mid-year.

News Corp.-owned blog All Things Digital had previously mentioned likely job cuts at MySpace. On Monday, it also reported on upheaval at another News Corp. business. It said that Sean Ryan, who had joined the entertainment giant last year to head up a new online gaming unit, is moving to Facebook to oversee partnerships for the social network's gaming platform.