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  • FRIDAY OCTOBER 6 2006 3:00 PM

MySpace Founder Speaks Out Against News Corp

Submitted by applextrent

Edited by applextrent

Tags: MySpace

Brad Greenspan, one of the initial founders of MySpace.com who was forced out of the company before the sale to News Corp, is now speaking out against News Corp's purchase of the site. Greenspan has released an unprecedented amount of information regarding the history of the site, and the potential News Corp. scandal.

“The answer to how News Corp. was fortunate enough to buy one of the largest and most valuable Internet companies for pennies on the dollar is now clear,” said Intermix's largest individual shareholder and Myspace founder Brad Greenspan. “I expect as the authorities get their arms around what happened, that this transaction will be unwound and Myspace will be independent. An independent Myspace is significantly better for its users and shareholders.”

“For the first time the public can read what took place behind the scenes and how shareholders were blatantly misled into voting for a quick and unfair sale to News Corp.,” continued Greenspan. “Deliberate steps were taken to withhold and manipulate information; money was improperly gained and laws were broken. It is my hope that regulatory bodies will begin their investigations quickly before evidence is destroyed.”



For the full report see FreeMySpace.com.

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Comments
bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

OCT 06, 2006 03:24 PM

So, I tried to read the report, but it's long on narration and light on evidence, or a even clear description of what the problem was. Can someone who understands this stuff clear this up for those of us who have neither the time nor the familiarity with securities law to make heads or tails of this?

RubberSoul

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA
February 2003

OCT 06, 2006 03:30 PM

It'll never get unwound.

claudewildman

claudewildman

Decatur, GA
June 2006

OCT 06, 2006 03:36 PM

It's the News Corporation! What the fuck did they expect? Like Rupert Murdoch was suddenly gonna turn into some nice and generous guy. He's old, greedy, power hungry, racist, conservative, and a whole list of other bad qualities. I hope he dies and goes to hell and I hope no other idealist website designers will be sucked in to his web.

Anton

Anton

Australia
September 2003

OCT 06, 2006 03:42 PM

He's not saying they were underpaid, is he? Because 580 million bucks sounds like good pay to me. Especially considering how terribly put together it is.

applextrent

applextrent

Long Beach, CA
October 2005

OCT 06, 2006 03:46 PM

bean said:
So, I tried to read the report, but it's long on narration and light on evidence, or a even clear description of what the problem was. Can someone who understands this stuff clear this up for those of us who have neither the time nor the familiarity with securities law to make heads or tails of this?



To put it simply, News Corp persuade executives of Intermix Media (buy giving them million dollar bonuses) to sell MySpace undervalued screwing shareholders.

Volkov

Volkov

San Antonio, TX
OLD SKOOL

OCT 06, 2006 03:47 PM

even being as "terribly put together" as it is...it generates an obscene amount of net traffic and money. To have been bought for roughly HALF of what YouTube is now worth seems pretty bad.

though I have to admit, at that level...you'd almost have to be happy about the money side of it.

if MySpace gets out of Murdoch's hands...I'm cool with that.

VargaMan

VargaMan

I'm lost
September 2006

OCT 06, 2006 03:59 PM

I have little sympathy for anyone who would deal with NewsCorp. You got what you deserved.

doctashock

doctashock

Los Angeles, CA
September 2003

OCT 06, 2006 04:06 PM

Yeah but "MySpace" was the first site of it's kind to reach that level of prominence on the web. (Not THE first of it's kind, just the first to get THAT big.) Nobody really had any idea how much it would really be worth. This was long before YouTube was probably even concieved in the back of someones brain.

I gots no love for Murdock or Newscorp, and I haven't read the details, but from what's been presented in this thread I have to say this sounds like a bunch of pissy whining for attention. I wouldn't be surprised if a "Myspace alternative" shows up in the near future from this guy.

Tangus

Tangus

Chicago, IL
November 2005

OCT 06, 2006 04:09 PM

so he's going to give all that money back!?!

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

OCT 06, 2006 04:11 PM

applextrent said:

bean said:
So, I tried to read the report, but it's long on narration and light on evidence, or a even clear description of what the problem was. Can someone who understands this stuff clear this up for those of us who have neither the time nor the familiarity with securities law to make heads or tails of this?



To put it simply, News Corp persuade executives of Intermix Media (buy giving them million dollar bonuses) to sell MySpace undervalued screwing shareholders.


I got that. I didn't get how that broke the law (I'm not familiar with the law allegedly being broken) or what other violations were committed.

RubberSoul

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA
February 2003

OCT 06, 2006 04:25 PM

MySpace has never made any money...It has always been valued at multiples of future earnings. It is impossible to say how much it is objectively "worth." That is what happened to all the companies in the dot com bubble era.

NickFaust

NickFaust

USA
April 2004

OCT 06, 2006 05:04 PM

bean said:

applextrent said:

bean said:
So, I tried to read the report, but it's long on narration and light on evidence, or a even clear description of what the problem was. Can someone who understands this stuff clear this up for those of us who have neither the time nor the familiarity with securities law to make heads or tails of this?



To put it simply, News Corp persuade executives of Intermix Media (buy giving them million dollar bonuses) to sell MySpace undervalued screwing shareholders.


I got that. I didn't get how that broke the law (I'm not familiar with the law allegedly being broken) or what other violations were committed.



I believe that he is claiming that the sale was based on some kind of insider trading.

Although I think the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.

Who gives a fuck who owns this dumb piece of shit. If the shareholders got fucked, they can always sue.

Anton

Anton

Australia
September 2003

OCT 06, 2006 11:13 PM

Volkov said:
even being as "terribly put together" as it is...it generates an obscene amount of net traffic and money. To have been bought for roughly HALF of what YouTube is now worth seems pretty bad.


But surely the extreme volatility of the website market is built into that price? Someone might've forked out hundreds of millions of bucks for the seemingly unstoppable Friendster a few years ago. And they'd be pretty fucked now.

The same goes with YouTube, as that on-point-dickface Mark Cuban said last week: 'only an idiot would buy YouTube,' or something like that. Yeah, the sites might be generating income now... but there's very, very little guarantee that they will be next year, or the year after, or ten years from now (which is pretty important when you've forked out 580 000 000 dollars).

If anything, I think News Corp. gave them a pretty good price. It might be below market value right now... but it's still five hundred and eighty million dollars.

RubberSoul

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA
February 2003

OCT 10, 2006 11:15 AM

I think it certainly gives additional credibility to the argument that MySpace was undervalued at $580 million when you consider yesterday's purchase of YouTube by Google for $1.65 billion. I am too lazy to research the statistics on members, clicks, etc. but I consider these sites and the type of users they attract similar in many ways.

Stiles

Stiles

Oakland, CA
November 2002

OCT 10, 2006 08:32 PM

How much was Pets.com worth at its' peak?

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