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Time Inc. Buys MySpace Parent Company Viant (theverge.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the myspace-still-exists dept.

Today, in a surprising turn of events, Time Inc. went back in time 10 years and bought MySpace. Just kidding - there was no time travel. But Time did announce today that they acquired Viant, a company that has a large ad tech business, but also owns other properties, including the old networking site MySpace. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but Time described the acquisition as "game changing," most likely in regards to Viant's ad-tech business. It remains to be seen what this will do for the future of MySpace ...

38 comments

  1. slashdot next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they'll buy slashdot next

  2. Hell... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's about Time.

    1. Re:Hell... by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Why would Time Warner do this?

      --
      Cheap storage VM.
  3. Republicans love MySpace... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're so out of date.

    1. Re: Republicans love MySpace... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is the way of their kind.

    2. Re:Republicans love MySpace... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dinosaur Hillary might have regretted leaving them then.

  4. New product by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    MySpaceTime... They finally merged

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:New product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More proof that Einstein was right all along, eh?

    2. Re:New product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Confirmed today by LIGO.

    3. Re:New product by shri · · Score: 2

      Now I wish I had started a company called Continuum.

  5. back from the dead? by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    > but Time described the acquisition as "game changing,"

    Yeah, but they always say that. I think a marketing content creator would get fired if he failed to work "game changing" into the text somewhere.

    > It remains to be seen what this will do for the future of MySpace ...

    Who knows, maybe they'll re-skin it and make another go. Everyone wants to be the next Facebook.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  6. My what? by wjcofkc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Out of morbid curiosity, I just checked out myspace.com. Just from the main page, I have no clue what their aim or angle is, let alone their audience. There is a blurb at the bottom that reads "The Best in Music & Culture. All In One Place." Yet that still doesn't shed a lot of light on whatever the hell that site is supposed to be.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:My what? by youngone · · Score: 1
      I'm at work, so I got "Access Denied, Social Networking".

      Can't help feeling like I just dodged a bullet.

    2. Re:My what? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      The place where News Corporations money went to die?

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    3. Re:My what? by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Out of morbid curiosity, I just checked out myspace.com. Just from the main page, I have no clue what their aim or angle is, let alone their audience. There is a blurb at the bottom that reads "The Best in Music & Culture. All In One Place." Yet that still doesn't shed a lot of light on whatever the hell that site is supposed to be.

      I got the feeling they were trying to go for a flashier and more customizable look with the idea that bands would use them as a social networking homepage to interact with fans.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    4. Re:My what? by jason777 · · Score: 2

      Lol, I just went there too. I think I still have a login so I clicked sign in, and they actually have a "sign in with facebook" option. It's sad, really.

    5. Re:My what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I went to MySpace and they want me to sign in with FaceBook.

    6. Re:My what? by Etcetera · · Score: 3, Informative

      Way back in the primordial ooze of the early-mid 2000's, MySpace actually gained initial notoriety as a place for musicians and bands to congregate. That was one (small) reason why it always had good media functionality (for the time)... Auto-play MP3's, highly visual backgrounds, CSS, etc. (The other 85% of the reason was so that people could post sparkly glitter GIFs...)

      When it got re-purchased after Facebook took over both the upper and "lower" classes of the internet social media space, MySpace decided to try to get back to its roots somewhat as a band-catering destination.

      Who knows if it'll ever succeed (again) at that, but the battle for general social media presence is long-since over, so they had to do something with it.

      --
      Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
    7. Re:My what? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      It is essentially Facebook for Musicians. It was bought by Justin Timberlake.

    8. Re:My what? by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

      I went to MySpace and they want me to sign in with FaceBook.

      I can't get that far, I have a (very old) myspace.com account yet hitting sign-in does nothing (nada). Google mentions a few ways to access the old vs current myspace (2013 video) which are of no help anymore.

      My first visit in many years, appears now to be a place Justin Timberlake can sale his music, not so social as it started.

    9. Re:My what? by unixisc · · Score: 1

      You don't? In the last decade, it was all the rage, since schoolkids used to be busted for plotting school acts of violence up there - including school shootings and other plots. That was the main thing that MySpace was famous for in the news

    10. Re:My what? by sunderland56 · · Score: 1

      From what I can see, "Time" used to be some popular form of journalism printed and distributed on paper. I had no idea that those still existed.

    11. Re:My what? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      The place where News Corporations money went to die?

      It's the place where every company that's bought them, went to die. News Corp is just one of many...the vultures already circle the building, and the managers can be heard screaming "bring out your dead programmers..."

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:My what? by dfm3 · · Score: 1

      Maybe they're trying to be the next Zombocom.

  7. "the future of MySpace"? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 1

    It remains to be seen what this will do for the future of MySpace

    The what, now?

  8. heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so Myspace is coming back lmao.... ok I'm going back...

  9. Space time Continuum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they will make a Space Time Continuum

  10. AOL, and now this. by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

    words fail...

    1. Re:AOL, and now this. by ameoba · · Score: 1

      AOL was the one that bought Time Warner back in 2000, not the other way around. The combined company has since spun off AOL but the current corporate entity is the same pile of money that started life as AOL.

      --
      my sig's at the bottom of the page.
  11. Yahoo! by mpoulton · · Score: 1

    So... when are they going to announce their acquisition of Yahoo's core business (not including the Alibaba shares)? That is the logical next step after AOL and MySpace, right?

    --
    I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
  12. So, yeah... by nickthisname · · Score: 1

    With MySpace back in play we can all go back to hitting on 13 year old girls ... who are actually 45 year old FBI agents.

  13. All Together Now.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. Let's all do the Time Warp!

  14. Getting net freedoms back by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    With the main web 2.0 social media walled gardens creating ever more watchful and censored platforms this news could open an older golden age of of US online freedom for generations.

    No more having your link, image, comment reported and tracked by a committee or brand's select group. To be free to post, mention, talk about any subject, topic, nation, political or historical event again without fear of losing an account or been reported to a government.

    If a brand could embrace US freedoms that so many nations lack or brands work so hard at taking away, something new and good could emerge.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  15. Needs Rewording by andywest · · Score: 1

    "went back in time 10 years"? No, for TIME, it would be "went forth in time to ten years ago", which is as close to modernity as TIME ever gets.

    --
    --- Andy West http://andywest.org
  16. Venture Capital by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For a while, Justin Timberlake owned it. He was trying to make a new music hub. He stepped out, I am not sure if he left the venture firm, withdrew his money or just stopped caring about it, but he is out of it, afaik. I couldn't imagine what that company is going to do, music hub was it's best feature, it would force people to listen to your music when you visit their page. So..... MySpace Tom must laugh his butt off every time he goes to the bank then looks at the news and laughs as another fool has bought his old jalopy.