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Murdoch on CES, and 'screwing up' Myspace

Rupert Murdoch has admitted 'screwing up' Myspace, and gave his thoughts on CES via his new-found love for Twitter.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Rupert Murdoch has admitted 'screwing up' Myspace, and has shared his thoughts on CES via Twitter, which he joined at the end of last year.

"Many questions and jokes about Myspace," the media mogul tweeted (we've tweaked his grammar and punctuation, as it's just annoying otherwise). "Simple answer -- we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons." All very honest. So who did he have his eye on at CES?

Well, to be honest he didn't have any great insights about the conference, but the fact he mentioned it shows what a huge deal it is."CES again," he tweeted. "Big three, Apple, Google and Amazon and maybe Facebook dominant now and growing. Plenty of others good, but not in the same league." Those four companies don't traditionally exhibit at CES, but we suppose he was sharing his views on tech companies in general.

He also mentioned that companies are worried about Apple's impending standalone TV: "CES wrapping up. All talk is about coming Apple TV. Plenty of apprehension, no firm facts but eyes on their enormous cash pile." And at the close of the conference he tweeted: "CES coming to a close. Seems like more innovation than ever, some great, all disruptive. Traditional coys [companies] feeling digital tornado."

The tweets were sent from his iPad.

Justin Timberlake chipped in to buy Myspace for £22m last summer. The pop singer said he wanted to bring Myspace back, like he did with sexy: "There's a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favourite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place." This was before Facebook launched its tie-in with Spotify, blowing apart Myspace's one selling point -- music.

Murdoch joined Twitter at the end of last year, followed closely by his wife, Wendi Deng. Except it turned out not to be his wife, but an impostor, prompting controversy over Twitter's verification process. Twitter apologised for "the confusion this caused". It'd never happen on Myspace.

Is Murdoch right about screwing up Myspace in every way? And what do you make of his tech analysis? Let us know below in the comments, or over on our Facebook page.