news corp

Turns out you'll have to wait a bit longer to see The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's long-awaited iPad news service.

Apple and News Corp. have made a joint decision to push back next week's planned launch, according to sources familiar with the companies' plans. The delay is supposed to give Apple time to tweak its new subscription service for publications sold through its iTunes platform.

Plans to hold debut the iPad newspaper at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday have been tabled "for weeks, not months," I'm told.

The issue isn't … Read more

News Corp. revealed today that it's exploring the possibility of selling or spinning off MySpace, just a day after the troubled social-networking site announced heavy layoffs.

During an announcement that confirmed many rumors, MySpace CEO Mike Jones briefed employees today on company options during a companywide meeting, spokeswoman Rosabel Tao told Bloomberg.

"News Corp. is assessing a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger, and a spinout [spinoff]," Tao said. "The process has just started."

On Tuesday, Jones announced a "significant organizational restructuring that will result in a 47 percent staff reduction across … Read more

It goes without saying that News Corp. is familiar with the process of cancellation--it's the parent company of the network that controversially axed "Firefly" and "Arrested Development," after all.

But when it comes to getting rid of a social-networking site, things seem to be a little bit more complicated: After this week laying off nearly half the people who work at MySpace, News Corp. seems to be in limbo over what to do about once-cool social network. Rumor has it that the Rupert Murdoch-helmed media company is shopping it to potential buyers, and at least one analyst is speculating … Read more

A Forbes source has confirmed that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is planning to launch its iPad-only daily news source, The Daily, at a special press conference on January 19.

Although the information seems pretty complete, as reported by Forbes, there's no official word from News Corp. about The Daily's launch date. According to Forbes, Murdoch briefed some reporters under embargo at CES this past week about The Daily.

A quick surf to Thedaily.com shows The Daily's logo, a "coming soon" message, and a sign-up form for e-mail updates.

Says Forbes: The debut can't come soon enough for The Daily's staffers, who for weeks have been engaged in full-scale dry runs, cranking out dummy issues for what I've been told is a distribution list of 1,000 privileged readers. … Read more

MySpace--the long-troubled social-networking site turned social entertainment hub--is in the midst of planning that could soon result in significant layoffs of its staff, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.

That number could be as much as 50 percent of the 1,100 employees at MySpace, largely based in the U.S., but also in international locations.

While the decision of what cuts to make to its employee base have not been made yet, nearly the entire MySpace staff was given the last week of December off from work to save money.

Sources stressed that management was still working … Read more

Facebook and MySpace have something up their sleeves for later today.

The two social networks sent out an e-mail overnight to news organizations including CNET, teasing an invitation-only announcement scheduled for noon PT today. The invite says only that Mike Jones, CEO of MySpace, and Dan Rose, VP of partnerships and platform marketing for Facebook, will be making the joint announcement.

The terse wording has prompted speculation over what the two companies might announce. The London Telegraph, for instance, cited rumors that MySpace will launch a Facebook Connect button across its site, letting people use their Facebook accounts to access … Read more

MySpace has a very limited amount of time to revive its operation, News Corp. said during a recent call with analysts.

"We've been clear that MySpace is a problem," News Corp. President and COO Chase Carey said yesterday during the call, according to AFP. "The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable. Our current management did not create these losses but they know we have to address them."

When News Corp. acquired MySpace in 2005 for $580 million, it thought it had a winner on its hands. After all, MySpace was the place to go … Read more

Yahoo has hired former Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo company announced yesterday.

Starting in November, Levinsohn will become Yahoo's executive vice president of the Americas. In his new role, Levinsohn will be in charge of the Web giant's "media group, advertising sales, and partnerships," the company said in a statement. He will report directly to Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.

Levinsohn will leave his current position as co-founder and managing director of equity management firm Fuse Capital.

Although Levinsohn of late has been on the investment side of the digital media business, he has lots … Read more

On today's show, it's a total Monday, so we devolve into nonsense words a little bit. It's mostly to stave off our justified rage over Cablevision and News Corp.'s money-motivated, consumer-unfriendly standoff. In other news, Google offers personalized Doodles on your birthday, and Borders offers yet another manifesto outlet. --Molly