MySpace cuts more staff

Just a week after announcing it would sack 30% of its United States-based staff, social media site MySpace has revealed it will cut another 300 workers outside the US.

The cuts, which represent about two-thirds of the site’s non-US employees, mean that MySpace has now cut about 40% of its workforce in two weeks. MySpace will have around 1150 staff, following the cuts.

“Our goal to tap into as many international markets as possible drove us to create too many offices around the globe, and with them came inefficiencies,” chief executive Owen Van Natta, a former executive at rival Facebook, said in a memo sent to employees.

Fortunately for Australia, the local MySpace office here will stay open. The company plans to close at least four of its 15 overseas offices and will instead focus on the main centres of Sydney, London and Berlin.

MySpace is under severe pressure from rivals such as Facebook and Twitter. The company has around 125 million users around the world, compared with Facebook’s 200 million.