<p>" MySpace is preparing to axe about half of its staff, cutting the number of employees to about 500," the Financial Times reported.<br /><br />" Most of the staff affected by the cuts will be told on Tuesday. Some people have already been told to clear their desks, " the report said citing sources.<br /><br />The company, which is understood to have 1,000 employees, international business will be hard hit by the cuts, the report noted.<br /><br />The US-based MySpace has three international offices, in the UK, Germany and Australia, and operates several more with partners.<br /><br />MySpace's international business was once identified with expansion by Chris DeWolfe, a former chief executive of the company, but those ambitions are being scaled back as the company looks to save money.<br /><br />The site recently underwent an extensive re-launch but the new focus on music, games and social entertainment has yet to return the company to profitability.<br /><br />MySpace recently renewed a search agreement with Google but the deal was for 'significantly less revenue' than the USD 900 million deal it replaced.<br /><br />Only three years ago MySpace was growing fast, fuelled by its lucrative search deal with Google.<br /><br />But traffic began to stagnate and advertising revenues started falling, leading to top level changes in the company.</p>
<p>" MySpace is preparing to axe about half of its staff, cutting the number of employees to about 500," the Financial Times reported.<br /><br />" Most of the staff affected by the cuts will be told on Tuesday. Some people have already been told to clear their desks, " the report said citing sources.<br /><br />The company, which is understood to have 1,000 employees, international business will be hard hit by the cuts, the report noted.<br /><br />The US-based MySpace has three international offices, in the UK, Germany and Australia, and operates several more with partners.<br /><br />MySpace's international business was once identified with expansion by Chris DeWolfe, a former chief executive of the company, but those ambitions are being scaled back as the company looks to save money.<br /><br />The site recently underwent an extensive re-launch but the new focus on music, games and social entertainment has yet to return the company to profitability.<br /><br />MySpace recently renewed a search agreement with Google but the deal was for 'significantly less revenue' than the USD 900 million deal it replaced.<br /><br />Only three years ago MySpace was growing fast, fuelled by its lucrative search deal with Google.<br /><br />But traffic began to stagnate and advertising revenues started falling, leading to top level changes in the company.</p>