MySpace Cuts 30% of Jobs, Shares Climb

MySpace just got a little more space in the office.

The company's new CEO, former Facebook executive Owen Van Netta, is making one of his first moves to put the site on the fast track toward efficiency. The social networking site, owned by News Corp.(NWSA Quote), slashed its staff by about 30% on Tuesday.

The move brings staffing levels at MySpace in line with those at Facebook. "Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," Van Natta said in a statement.

About 420 jobs will be eliminated, bringing MySpace's total U.S. staff to 1,000. Facebook had about 850 employees worldwide in May.

Under the stewardship of Van Netta, who was hired less than two months ago, MySpace is restructuring across all of its U.S. divisions. Van Netta replaces co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who left the company in April.

Co-founder Tom Anderson is also looking to move away from his day-to-day responsibilities and take a more creative role.

On Monday comScore, a data tracking firm, said Facebook has surpassed MySpace in monthly U.S. first-time visitors. MySpace's user base remains relatively steady at about 125 million worldwide users, while Facebook usage has nearly doubled to more than 200 million in less than a year.