News Corporation has sold its ailing social networking site MySpace to online advertising firm Specific Media. News Corp paid $580m (£361m) for MySpace in 2005, but users and advertisers left the site for rival social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The sale terms were not disclosed, but there were unconfirmed reports that price paid was as low as $35m.Pop star and actor Justin Timberlake will take a stake in the business, Specific Media said.

MySpace was a leading social networking site when it was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.But the business was eclipsed by rivals, and despite attempts to revive MySpace's fortunes the site has been a financial millstone.

Although News Corp does not publish specific results for MySpace in its accounts, the "other" segment, which includes the social network, reported a second quarter operating loss of $156m - $31m worse than a year earlier.