More MySpace Layoffs and Office Closings Announced

CEOs usually harbor a talent for softening the blow of really bad news by exaggeratedly emphasizing the good. But when the really bad news is that your company, a social networking site called MySpace, is laying off two-thirds of its international staff and closing at least four internationally located offices (this on top of the 30-percent domestic employee reduction last week), it's hard to articulate a positive spin.

MySpace is trying, though. In an e-mail to employees sent out this morning, CEO Owen Van Natta said that the “restructuring steps" the company is taking (read: large numbers of layoffs) have "laid the groundwork for an exciting new chapter of innovation for MySpace.” Natta, formerly of Facebook, said he wants to focus on London, Berlin and Sydney as the primary regional hubs for international operations, and that most other international offices will be restructured.