*MySpace is sold for around $35 million

Buyer is the Irvine-based advertising firm Specific Media, which along with a SF-based investment firm had been a front-runner for the troubled property. In preparation for the sale, roughly half of MySpace's 500 employees were let go today. Also out is CEO Mike Jones. As recently as two years ago, there were 1,400 people on staff. The purchase price is $35 million to $40 million, well below the $100 million that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was hoping for - and way below the $580 million that he paid for the site in 2005. From the NYT:

MySpace has attempted to reboot itself several times, most recently as a social destination for music, movies and other media. It has not been abandoned altogether; it still has 35 million visitors a month in the U.S., according to the measurement firm ComScore. Facebook has 157 million visitors a month in the U.S. "It's still one of the biggest pockets of traffic on the Internet, for the price," said a former MySpace executive who insisted on anonymity in order to maintain friendships and business relationships with News Corp. The former executive said MySpace became something of a distraction for News Corp., a company that does "very, very well on many fronts." "Yet on the earnings call, you have to hear about MySpace," the person said.

*As part of its deal with Specific Media, News Corp. will retain a small stake in MySpace.