MySpace buys Photobucket

NEW YORK, May 30 (UPI) -- MySpace said it agreed to buy Photobucket.com, a U.S. photo-sharing Web site, a month after MySpace blocked content its users made with Photobucket.

MySpace parent Fox Interactive Media, a News Corp. division, also agreed separately to buy Flektor Inc., which lets users edit photos and videos and embed them on Web pages.

Financial terms of the deals, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.

The Wall Street Journal reported May 7 MySpace had signed a preliminary deal to buy Photobucket for about $250 million in cash.

Photobucket reportedly plans to operate "as an independent, standalone company" within Fox Interactive Media, Photobucket Chief Executive Officer Alex Welch said in a statement.

Launched in 2003, Photobucket is the most popular U.S. photo-sharing site, with 41.4 percent of visits to sites in that category, Internet monitor Hitwise said.

MySpace blocked videos and slideshows its users created with Photobucket for two weeks in April, accusing Photobucket of encouraging users to incorporate an ad-sponsored slideshow in their profile pages.

MySpace said the slideshow violated its policies against unauthorized commercial activities.

Welch called MySpace's action "a retrograde step" that contradicted "the very ethos of personal and social media" as well as "an unacceptable attempt to limit the freedom of the very people who are its lifeblood -- its users."