MySpace to lay off 30 percent of staff

NEW YORK (Reuters) - MySpace, the social network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said it will cut its staff by 30 percent to lower its cost as it struggles to maintain its popularity in the face of rising competition.

MySpace will be left with about 1,000 employees, it said in a statement released on Tuesday. The cuts, which were presaged in several blog reports in recent weeks, are the biggest move so far by new management at the social network and an attempt, it said, to return the service to a "start-up culture."

"Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered by our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," MySpace's new chief executive, Owen Van Natta, said in the statement.