Mass market mobile social networking and gaming platform MocoSpace has issued a statement expressing interest in purchasing MySpace from parent company NewsCorp. The potential acquirer says the two companies have already begun to talk. It sounds like a logical deal, if it can get done.
MocoSpace is a far-reaching service that began with mobile web social networking, then moved into casual games and last spring into smart phone apps. The company targets multicultural and youth audiences as young as 14 years old. It has raised $6.5 million in venture capital and is well regarded for its mobile advertising success. MocoSpace serves up 3 billion mobile Web pages each month, making it the fourth most visited mobile website online, according to one analyst firm last spring.
MocoSpace seems like a fitting home for MySpace, but the bargain basement price MocoSpace would likely pay – compared to the $327 million Newscorp paid for it just over five years ago – has got to sting.
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.
If MySpace became a mobile network for listening to the world’s popular and independent musicians on demand, that could be great news for users. That could also be a whole lot of licensing negotiations for a startup like MocoSpace to bite off.
