News Corporation has sold struggling social networking site MySpace for £22m, mostly in stock, according to a source.

The deal values MySpace at a fraction of what News Corp paid for the site six years ago.
The sale to online advertising network operator Specific Media is expected to close later today, a day before the end of News Corp's financial year. News Corp will maintain less than a 5% stake in the company.

The person was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

News Corp bought MySpace for £361m in 2005 but users and advertisers have fled the site for other more popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Specific Media confirmed the acquisition but not the terms of the deal.

"There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fuelling connections with relevance and interest," said Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook, in a statement. "We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation."

Specific Media, based in Irvine, California, was founded in 1999 by brothers Tim, Chris and Russell Vanderhook.