MySpace makes iLike acquisition official

MySpace on Wednesday announced (techmeme) an agreement to acquire iLike, a leading social music discovery service. The acquisition brings together two companies who share a common vision revolving around social discovery and distribution of quality content.

Reports of the potential acquisition first surfaced on Monday.

In the release, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said the acquisition complements what MySpace brings to the table:

“The iLike acquisition advances our relentless pursuit of innovation and the need to create new distributed social experiences in music and beyond,” Van Natta said. “We are deeply committed to bringing world class talent into all areas of the company and this acquisition demonstrates our focus on this objective.”

Financial terms of the acquisition were not released.

MySpace asserted that the entire iLike team will stay intact,, which includes CEO Ali Partovi, President Hadi Partovi and CTO Nat Brown.

iLike president Hadi Partovi said in a statement:

“MySpace’s strengths have been a long-time source of inspiration for iLike,” Partovi said. “Combining MySpace’s existing platform, reach and resources with iLike’s syndication network and social discovery tools creates the potential for truly exciting innovation and commerce across any vertical entertainment category -- our combined assets now span all the major social networks. I'm enthusiastic about what this combination will mean for our users, artists, advertisers, and our staff. We are beginning an exciting new journey together.”

The iLike experience should be unaffected by the acquisition, the company said, and the iLike team will remain headquartered in Seattle.

[Related: Does iLike price show cost of Facebook dependence?]

Brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi founded iLike in 2006, and in two years made it the largest music application across all social networks with 55 million total users and 1.5 billion monthly impressions.

Shares of News Corporation, MySpace's parent company, were up 0.12, or about 1 percent, in afternoon trading.

Image at top, left to right: Ali Partovi, iLike CEO; Mike Jones, MySpace COO; Owen Van Natta, MySpace CEO; Nat Brown, iLike CTO; Hadi Partovi, President iLike at the MySpace office. (Photo courtesy Frank Micelotta)