Myspace Sale a Cautionary Tale for Today’s Social Networking Hype? (NWSA, GOOG, LNKD, RENN)

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SOCIAL NETWORKING INVESTING IDEAS

• Popular long ideas: GOOG, SINA, RENN
• Popular short ideas: GOOG, LNKD, SINA
• Top dividend plays: UNTD
• Pro favorites: GOOG, LNKD, SINA

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SOCIAL NETWORKING COVERAGE

These companies run online businesses with significant exposure to social networking.

• Momentum Already Slowing For Google+? (GOOG, LNKD, RENN, QPSA, SINA, UNTD)
• Social Media Stocks Headed For Bubble Heartache? (LNKD, GOOG, NFLX, SINA, RENN, QPSA, UNTD)
• Smooth Sailing For Google+ To Start (GOOG, LNKD, UNTD, SINA, RENN)

SOCIAL NETWORKING CHART

SOCIAL NETWORKING METRICS

Avg. Market Cap:	$54.3B
Avg. P/E Ratio:	43.5
Avg. Div Yield:	1.1%

With the recent onslaught of IPOs from social networking companies like LinkedIn (LNKD), Renren (RENN), and most likely a massively hyped Facebook IPO coming next year, news of the unloading of a formerly hot social network at a rock-bottom price may give investors pause.

Shares of News Corp (NWSA) are gained over 1% today after reports emerged that the firm has found a buyer for one of the most infamous internet properties, Myspace. News Corp purchased the website in 2005 for $580 million, but the price tag on today’s sale, according to All Things D is just $35 million. Specific Media, an advertising network, is the buyer. Myspace was once fairly lucrative for News Corp thanks to an advertising deal with Google (GOOG), but the site foundered as Facebook became the undisputed leader in social networking. Meanwhile, the new generation of social networking firms pushed the Social Networking Index higher by 2.5% today.

Unloading Myspace was no easy feat for News Corp. The social network sold for less than 10% of its original purchase price. News Corp was asking $100 million for the site, but decided to accept the offer from Specific so that it would not be on the books for the close of the fiscal year, according to the All Things D.

Investors can track the Social Networking Stocks Index for performance trends and a suite of other metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: GOOG, LNKD, NWSA, RENN