MySpace worth US $3 billion, say News Corp execs

In a profile of the state of play in Murdoch's News Corp, the Observer reports that the company believes its much-talked about half billion investment in MySpace has already increased in value five-fold.

Myspace cost $600m (£320m), but executives believe it is now worth around $3bn, and Philips has been asked to apply the lessons learned from the teenage networking site across the group. That makes the thirtysomething a key player as Murdoch battles to ensure his influence will continue to be keenly felt in the digital age.

Like Yahoo!'s acquistions of Flickr and del.icio.us, News Corp knows that it is getting far more than just a bottom-line return on their purchase. It's the lessons they can learn for their other businesses, the massive community that they can tap into for tastes and preferences in content, tools and ways of making connections and conversations.

Note: John Naughton's accompanying article is a must-read too.

Tags: News Corp, Murdoch, MySpace, Observer