The company, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, bought MySpace last year for $580 million in cash, and it is now worth as much as $2 billion by some analysts' estimates.

In buying MySpace, the company is following Mr. Murdoch's edict for the far-flung company to follow the increasing numbers of audiences and advertisers online.

When Murdoch bought MySpace, it was a vibrant and thriving online society hell-bent for world domination.

In 2005, News Corp bought MySpace for $580m; it was sold a few months ago for $35m.

Last year, the News Corporation bought MySpace, a teenage social site, and IGN, an online game site.

In buying MySpace, the company is following Mr. Murdoch's recent edict that his managers get serious about the Internet.

News Corporation bought MySpace for $580m (£373m) in 2008.

That's what Rupert Murdoch did when his News Corporation bought MySpace in July.

We're not talking about prices like the $1.65+ billion Google paid for YouTube, or even the $650 million News Corp coughed up to buy MySpace one year ago.

That audience was enough to draw Rupert Murdoch and Sumner M. Redstone into a bidding war to buy MySpace last year.