Synopsis
The ridiculously popular website Myspace.com now allows millions of subscribers to reveal themselves in ways that make the rest of us yearn for Internet ignorance. But the covert story of how the rights to the site were sold or, according to Julia Angwin's account, stolen by Rupert Murdoch has remained hidden until now. Angwin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, provides the most extensive history yet of the culture-changing phenomenon of Myspace, focusing most intently on the billion-dollar sale of the site in 2005 to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. She details how the deal was negotiated and finalized without the consent of the creators of Myspace, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, who have been fighting a legal battle to retain the rights to their cybernetic offspring. Far from being sympathetic Davids to Murdoch's Goliath, DeWolfe and Anderson have their own history, which Angwin also explores thoroughly, explaining why the case is perhaps not quite as black-and-white as it may appear.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2009-03-17 | | Narrated by: | Paul Michael Garcia | | Edition Description: | Unabridged |
Publisher's Note
Chronicles the story of how MySpace, a powerhouse Internet company that rose from humble, barely funded, technologically inept beginnings to become nothing less than one of the centerpieces of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, spawning a dizzying and epic battle for control. Simultaneous.
Industry Reviews
"As a chronicle of corporate maneuvering, STEALING MYSPACE is meticulous and engaging....[It] sparkles as a boardroom page-turner....[and] does a great job of unearthing MySpace's roots in the Web's shadier precincts."
(03/15/2009)
"Julia Angwin...has done prodigious digging into the shady business practices, trailer-park aesthetics, lucky accidents and borderline personality types that have allowed MySpace to tap into the American psyche."
(03/15/2009)
"Angwin's portraits of the principals benefit from the same use of well-lighted detail as an Edward Hopper painting. She does deft work on the deal's aftermath, too, as the Web blossoms into a mainstream medium, helped along by MySpace."
(03/22/2009)
"Angwin meticulously details the complicated deal structure between MySpace and its parent company,...and the rival courtships of News Corp. and Viacom. The detail is so granular that it passes through boring into surreal."
(04/19/2009)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
