Massive MySpace layoffs expected tomorrow

Half of MySpace’s current staff- between 500 and 600 employees, it is believed- are expected to lose their jobs with the company tomorrow as the website’s slow death march continues.

MySpace has long been a punchline or addendum to one-liners about Facebook’s dominance of the social networking sphere. (Even a year and a half ago, MySpace was referred to as a “digital ghetto.”) A piece in the Wall Street Journal on the impending layoffs said an unnamed source indicated that the mass redundancies would be a move toward the site’s new strategy, but declined to elaborate on what kind of strategy might necessitate cutting half of MySpace’s remaining staff.

Wired speculates that the layoffs could be coming ahead of a possible sale of MySpace:

The layoffs are happening as News Corp holds on-again, off-again talks to sell MySpace to potential buyers, including private equity firms, according to NetworkEffect. Another rumor making the rounds is that Yahoo might pick up MySpace. Last week, CNBC reported that News Corp is on track to unload the social networking website by mid-2011.

MySpace has not commented on nor confirmed the rumor of tomorrow’s layoffs.