MySpace sold for $580 million—and later just $35 million

A closer look

Let this be a masterclass in how traditional media completely misunderstands the internet. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought MySpace at the absolute peak of its cultural relevance in 2005 for $580 million, catastrophically ruined the user experience with spammy ads, and watched everyone flee to Facebook. They dumped it in 2011 for pennies, cementing it as one of the most embarrassing corporate fumbles in tech history.