MySpace is cutting more than 400 jobs in the US - nearly 30 per cent of its workforce - in an attempt to cut costs and reignite its innovative drive under new leadership.

The social networking site, which is a division of News Corporation, parent company of The Times, announced the staffing cuts as part of a plan to restructure itself into a "more innovative, efficient, and entrepreneurial business".

"This restructuring plan crosses all US divisions of the company and lowers the total number of domestic staff at MySpace to 1,000 employees," the company said.

The move comes two months after Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook executive, became the new chief executive officer at MySpace when former chief executive and co-founder Chris DeWolfe stepped down.

Mr Van Natta said: “Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company. I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centred on our user and our product.”

“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace,” said Jonathan Miller, News Corp’s new chief executive of Digital Media and Chief Digital Officer.

"I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace's next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team.”

A spokeswoman declined to comment on any plans for job cuts for MySpace employees outside the US. MySpace, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, has a number of offices in Europe, including London.

News Corp bought MySpace in 2005 in a deal worth $580million. The site has been struggling recently with stagnant growth, allowing Facebook to edge ahead of it in terms of total US visitors for the first time in May.

My Space has been overtaken by Facebook in popularity. Facebook had 70.278 million unique visitors in the US, while MySpace had 70.237 million, according to data released by internet research company ComScore.

Facebook first surpassed MySpace in global visitors in April 2008. In May, Facebook had more than 307 million users worldwide, compared to MySpace's 123 million.

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