| Synopsis |
Set in the urban jungle of Los Angeles, Stealing MySpace is the story of scrappy entrepreneurs, corporate rivalries, and dizzying back-room deal-making.
Award winning journalist Julia Angwin traces MySpace's history from its humble beginnings as a spam and spyware distributor, based in a dingy office park near the L.A. airport, to its arrival as a centerpiece of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
How this unlikeliest of ventures—barely funded, technologically inept, conceptually derivative, driven by rivalries—stumbled to the top is a fascinating and surprising story that features an all-star cast of characters including pinup star Tila Tequila, ousted MTV founder Tom Freston, and rock star Bono.
Central to the MySpace story is an epic battle for control that climaxed when MySpace was secretly sold to Murdoch behind the backs of founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson.
Meticulously reported with extensive endnotes, Stealing MySpace is a fast-moving business narrative reminiscent of Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy of Fools and Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate.