Time running out for MySpace, ‘quarters… not years’ to turn fortunes around

It seems MySpace’s lengthy drain-circle may be coming to a conclusion sooner rather than later.

I must admit, when I watched Kick-Ass earlier this week, the least believable part- not the jet pack or the little girl with The Bride-like reflexes- was the idea that there are still 16,000 people using the neolithic social networking service. But it seems us bloggers may have to find a new easy punchline, as MySpace is said to have “quarters” rather than “years” to reverse its decline before News Corp. pulls the plug on the ailing network.

During a call with “Wall Street analysts,” News Corp. COO Chase Carey confirmed that the service can’t go on bleeding money forever. USA Today quotes Carey’s on MySpace needing to put out or get out:

“We’ve been clear that MySpace is a problem,” Carey told Wall Street analysts in an earnings call. “The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable…”

But with traffic numbers that “are not going in the right direction,” Carey wants to see “a clear path to profitability” on a timetable measured “in quarters, not in years.”

MySpace hemorrhaged $156 million in Q3 of this year, up from $126 million in the same quarter in 2009.