Buying Myspace was a huge mistake: Murdoch

News Corp's purchase of Myspace was a "huge mistake" and the social network was mismanaged "in every possible way" following the acquisition, chief executive Rupert Murdoch says.

Murdoch, addressing shareholders at the media and entertainment company's annual meeting in Los Angeles, said News Corp's 2005 purchase of Myspace for $US580 million seemed "fantastic" at the time.

"We paid $600 million," Murdoch said.

"We could have sold it for $6 billion a month later."

Myspace, however, was quickly eclipsed by Facebook, which grew to more than 800 million members as Myspace's numbers dwindled.

"I made a huge mistake," Murdoch said of the Myspace acquisition.

"We then proceeded to mismanage it in every possible way," he said, adding that "all of the people concerned with it are no longer with the company."

News Corp sold Myspace in June for $US35 million, just six per cent of its purchase price, to Specific Media, a digital ad-targeting platform.

Murdoch also defended News Corp during the meeting from criticisms by shareholders angry about a phone-hacking scandal in Britain that led to the closure of the tabloid weekly The News of the World.

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