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Facebook ( FB ) forerunner Myspace now has a new owner — Time Inc. ( TIME ). The New York-based magazine publisher of People , Sports Illustrated, Time and Fortune announced Thursday that it has acquired Viant, an advertising technology company that owns Myspace through a previous acquisition. No terms were disclosed. Founded in 1999, Viant owns and operates several digital ad technology and media companies. “This acquisition is game-changing for us,” Time CEO Joe Ripp said in a statement. “Marketers are selecting media partners that have either data-driven capabilities or premium content; we will be able to deliver both in a single platform and will stand apart from those that offer just one or the other. “In other words, we will be able to deliver advertisers’ messages targeted to optimal audiences across all types of devices, along with the ability to measure return on investment.” The social network and photo-sharing site then known as MySpace (with a capital “S”) launched in 2003 and quickly overtook another popular social site of the time, Friendster, to become the dominant social network. Then, in 2004, Facebook emerged and blew both social networking pioneers out of the water to become — and remain — the industry leader. Users and advertisers quickly left Myspace. Friendster “paused its service” as of last year. With the Time acquisition, Myspace has been sold three times. At its peak in 2005, Myspace was acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. ( NWS ) for $580 million. In 2011, the fading social network was sold to ad network and Viant subsidiary Specific Media for $35 million. Specific Media enlisted music superstar Justin Timberlake to help it re-launch the renamed Myspace in 2013, with a focus on music and with a $20 million ad blitz. By early 2015, Myspace was attracting 50 million users a month. Time was down 9%, near 12, in afternoon trading in the stock market today , hitting an all-time low after posting Q4 EPS ex items that fell short of expectations. Facebook stock was up 0.2%, near 101, despite a down day for the market overall. Scalper1 News
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