MySpace website to cut staff numbers in half : Report

" MySpace is preparing to axe about half of its staff, cutting the number of employees to about 500," the Financial Times reported.

" 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.

The company, which is understood to have 1,000 employees, international business will be hard hit by the cuts, the report noted.

The US-based MySpace has three international  offices, in the UK, Germany and Australia, and operates several more with partners.

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.

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.

MySpace recently renewed a search agreement with Google but the deal was for 'significantly less revenue' than the USD 900 million deal it replaced.

Only three years ago MySpace was growing fast, fuelled by its lucrative search deal with Google.

But traffic began to stagnate and advertising revenues started falling, leading to top level changes in the company.