Nearly Half of MySpace Staff Given the Axe

MySpace announced today the layoffs of 47% of the company’s staff, about 500 employees. The cuts come just 3 months after the News Corp-owned social network revamped the site. In a release, CEO Mike Jones made sure to emphasize that the alterations to MySpace were not the cause of the layoffs:

These changes were purely driven by issues related to our legacy business, and in no way reflect the performance of the new product. The new organizational structure will enable us to move more nimbly, develop products more quickly, and attain more flexibility on the financial side … While it’s still early days, the new Myspace is trending positively and the good news is we have already seen an uptick in returning and new users.

MySpace is based out of Beverly Hills, CA. It has not been announced how many local employees will be affected by the layoffs.

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