新年新气象，然而对社交网站MySpace而言新年似乎并不预兆着好的开始。据称MySpace本月计划大幅度裁减员工。

据《华尔街日报》报导，News Crop旗下的MySpace社交网站本次裁员1/3至1/2。据称，12月的最后一个星期MySpace放了所有员工一个长假以节省开支，同时便于执行官们决定最终裁员名单。

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作为第一批成立的社交网站，近年来MySpace一直被掩盖在Facebook和Foursquare等本地化社交网站的光芒之下。据游戏邦了解，上个季度News Crop主管MySpace的部门损失1亿5600万美元，对公司的周转资金造成了极大的影响。

在此之前，MySpace的上一轮裁员是在2009年6月，当时美国MySpace裁减了近30%的员工，此后一个月又在全球范围内裁员300人。

2010年10月游戏邦曾报导MySpace发布了新标志，并对网站进行重新设计，将之定位为“新生代的社交娱乐目的地”。当时的网站重新设计主要是出于将MySpace区别于Facebook和Twitter的战略目的，力图打造新种类的娱乐中心网站。

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新年之前，MySpace还推出了允许名人短时间接管网站的Hijacks（劫持）项目，并进行了与Facebook社交网站的糅合。通过与Facebook的糅合，用户可以通过Facebook账号登陆MySpace。

据《华尔街日报》指出，2010年11月社交网站MySpace在美国拥有5440万注册用户，这一数据同比去年下降15%；而另一方面，Facebook 11月拥有1亿5170万用户，同比去年增长50%。另外，前段时间Facebook还得到了高盛投资公司（Goldman Sachs）高达4亿5000万美元的投资，Facebook社交网站总估值超过500亿美元。

据《华尔街日报》指出，2005年以5亿8000万美元收购MySpace的News Crop公司现已公开出售MySpace。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The New Year is not off to the best start for MySpace.  Far from welcoming 2011 with a glass of champagne, the once-dominant social networking site is instead rumored to be preparing to downsize dramatically, with significant layoffs coming possibly as early as this month.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the News Corp.-owned site may cut between one third to one half of its current 1,100 person staff.  This after the entire MySpace staff was given the last week of December off from work to save money, and to give executives time to decide which cuts should be made permanent.

MySpace premiered as one of the Web’s first social networks but has since struggled to stay relevant, most recently seeing its once shining star eclipsed by quickly-growing sites like Facebook and the rise of location-based sites such as Foursquare.

In the last quarter, the segment of News Corp. that owns MySpace lost $156 million, prompting the company to attempt a number of drastic turn-around effots.

The last round of layoffs for the site took place in June of 2009 when MySpace cut its staff by 30 percent in the U.S. and, a week later, reduced its international workforce by 300 people.

In October, MySpace unveiled a new logo and a site redesign intended to redefine the company as a “social entertainment destination for Gen Y.”  The redesign was largely seen, however, as more of a strategic decision to put the site out of competition with the likes of Facebook and Twitter and into a whole new category of entertainment hub.

And, just before the New Year, MySpace introduced the Hijacks program that allows certain celebrities, from the Black Eyed Peas to Jack Black, to “take over” the site for short periods of time, followed by the introduction of “Mashup with Facebook.”

In an “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach, “Mashup” linked MySpace with Facebook, allowing users to log into the site via their Facebook accounts and receive customized, entertainment-based updates on MySpace based on their Facebook preferences.

Yet, the differences between the trajectories of the two sites could not be more stark.

According to the Journal, Myspace had 54.4 million unique visitors in the U.S. in November, a 15 percent decrease from a year ago. On the other hand Facebook had 151.7 million unique visitors, which was a 50 percent increase from November 2009.

Facebook was also the recipient this week of a $450 million investment from Goldman Sachs, a transaction that puts the social network at a valuation of around $50 billion.

Meanwhile, for MySpace, the layoffs could be just the beginning of the end.

The  Journal and other outlets report that News Corp., which acquired Myspace in 2005 for $580 million, is open to a complete sale of the site, with a private equity buyer for MySpace as the most likely outcome if the site is sold.（Source：Socialtimes）