According to The New York Times, MocoSpace – the mass market mobile social networking and gaming platform – is revealing its interest in possibly purchasing the embattled social network known as MySpace.
Presently owned by News Corp., MySpace has struggled for months, bleeding both users and employees at the once ultra-prominent social networking hub.
The NYT reports that MocoSpace executives has already reached out to MySpace and active talks are now ongoing.
By all accounts, MocoSpace would stand to acquire MySpace at a dramatic discount from the $580 million Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. coughed up for it in 2005.
Some industry analysts believe MySpace may only fetch $50 million in an acquisition. Still, MocoSpace apparently has high hopes for MySpace, which has struggled to reonate with mobile users as well as other social networks like Facebook and Twitter have.
MySpace’s mobile offerings could use a big kick in the pants. The company’s recent iPhone app, for example, doesn’t allow users to listen to music – surely one of the most popular requests its users would have.
While it’s far from certain that MocoSpace will be the eventual acquirer of MySpace, News Corp. is palpably eager to dump that which they couldn’t manage to turn profitable.
“They are open to discussing it with us. This may be an opportunity to acquire an asset that we have the unique skills to manage,” Justin Siegel, CEO of MocoSpace, recently admitted to BusinessWeek.