Time Inc buys what is left of MySpace for its user data

Magazine publisher acquires social network's owner Viant and will mine its membership data

Time Inc has acquired what is left of social media pioneer MySpace in a move designed to hoover up user data to help it target digital ads more effectively.

The publisher of magazines including Time, People and in the UK, NME and Ideal Home announced in a statement it had acquired Viant, a group of companies that includes advertising network Specific Media, which purchased MySpace for $35m in 2011.