Big MySpace writedown

News Corp. lost $203 million in its fourth quarter, largely the result of $680 million in impairment and operating charges at Fox Interactive, which houses the Bev Hills-based social networking site. The loss compares with a net profit of $1.1 billion a year earlier. MySpace, of course, has seen a big dropoff in visitors and advertising. Last spring, News Corp. ousted CEO Chris DeWolfe and brought on a former Facebook executive. That led to a bunch of layoffs. From Bloomberg:

The worst U.S. recession since World War II battered ad sales at News Corp.'s local TV stations, social-networking Web site MySpace and newspapers, which include the New York Post and the Sunday Times. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch hired new managers and cut jobs during the fiscal year that ended in June to help offset the advertising slump.