Just as Rupert Murdoch and the News Corp apparatus pore over a potential deal for Dow Jones, MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have submitted their pay requests for consideration.
$50 million, plus management of a $15 million development fund, as part of a two-year deal. Anderson and DeWolfe think they are worth $12.5 million each annually, thanks to MySpace.
A report on Deadline Hollywood Daily suggested the duo have a minimal chance of seeing such a payday happen. Nikki Finke wrote:
I’m told by News Corp insiders that the chances of DeWolfe and Anderson getting what they want pay-wise is “slim to none” and “highly unlikely”. Even though the duo’s MySpace is incredibly dominant in the social networking sphere, attracting almost 80% of all U.S. visits.
Then again, Friendster was huge until next generation MySpace came along. So I think the duo had better hurry and nail down their deal because, every day, MySpace faces more huge pressure from smaller but increasingly popular Facebook, which now gets 12% of all U.S. social networking business.
The deal they could agree to right away would be $15 million each, spread over two years. That doesn’t sound too bad, considering they sold MySpace to News Corp for $580 million. The hue and cry over their sizable demand sounds a little out of order, though.
First, News Corp managed to make a $900 million deal with Google for search and advertising services on MySpace. Recently, rumors of a MySpace-Yahoo deal began to circulate. That deal, exchanging MySpace for 25 percent of Yahoo, would value MySpace in the neighborhood of $12.5 billion.
Even though the massive pay packet for Anderson and DeWolfe has been greeted dismissively, it may not be out of line with MySpace’s apparent value.
