MySpace bids expected this week

One suitor tells the WSJ that parent company News Corp. is seeking bids of at least $100 million - far, far below the $580 million that the media giant paid for the Bev Hills-based social network site in 2005. (And that doesn't include the tens of millions of dollars that News Corp. spent to reboot the place.) About a half dozen private equity firms and companies are expected to submit bids by the end of this week.

The companies considering a deal for the social media and entertainment site include private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, Redscout Ventures and Criterion Capital Partners LLC, owner of social networking site Bebo, according to people familiar with the matter. Some firms are expected to team up on bids, a person familiar with the matter said. News Corp. also has had talks with a Chinese Internet company about a potential deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In March, MySpace traffic dropped 49 percent from a year earlier, and the site has been losing gobs of money. A deal is expected around June.