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Company Founder Biographies: Founder bios of some of the most successful people in business today. |  |
Tom Anderson Bio, Founder of MySpace
While at eUniverse, several employees -- including DeWolfe and Anderson -- began talking about creating an ad-supported social networking site similar to the recently launched Friendster. Various eUniverse resources were devoted to the new site, MySpace: lists of email addresses were used for direct marketing, and members of eUniverse's paid sites such as dating network CupidJunction were encouraged to open free accounts with MySpace. Still working as a copywriter at eUniverse, Anderson made the first official MySpace account, and every new account automatically begins with him added as a "friend" -- making his the central account of the site, the one through which all others (unless they intentionally remove him) are connected. When first creating the site, Anderson underreported his age by five years, thinking that a thirtysomething founder wouldn't appeal to the teens and college students who were most desired as users. MySpace grew at a tremendous rate, outpacing Friendster quickly thanks in part to more aggressive marketing and especially to the presence of bands -- and their streamable or downloadable music -- on the site, which has become an easy way for lesser-known or undiscovered bands to promote themselves. eUniverse -- renamed Intermix Media -- was bought out by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and the non-MySpace holdings thereof were then sold again to Demand Media, a former MySpace executive. Anderson remains as President of the company. |
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