Rupert Murdoch admits on Twitter that buying Myspace was a mistake

MEDIA MOGUL Rupert Murdoch has admitted on Twitter that his acquisition of Myspace for $580m was a mistake.

Murdoch wrote on Twitter about the disastrous purchase for the first time since he lost $545m in his gamble on the social networking web site.

In reference to talk of Myspace at the consumer electronics show (CES), he tweeted, "Many questions and jokes about Myspace.simple answer - we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons."

Many questions and jokes about My Space.simple answer -we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 13, 2012

Murdoch bought Myspace in 2005, but Facebook launched a year later and the web site's popularity declined rapidly. He sold Myspace to advertising company Specific Media and Justin Timberlake in 2011 for just $35m for a loss of £545m.

Late last year Murdoch admitted during a shareholders meeting that he made a big mistake, adding, "We could have sold it for $6 billion a month later."

Myspace, which started as a web site where users could share their interests in pop and rock music, has in the last four years been totally eclipsed by the explosive growth of its upstart competitor Facebook.

Myspace had 73.6 million users in 2008 and but its membership has now shrunk to less than 30 million. µ