Fact Check: Rumor Claims 'Myspace Tom' Vanished After He Sold His Social Media Company. Here's What Happened

Claim:

Tom Anderson, co-founder of Myspace, vanished after selling his social media company to News Corp. for $580 million.

Rating:

On May 27, 2024, the X account @DivineManhood published a series of tweets and videos detailing the story of Tom Anderson and his alleged disappearance from public life following the sale of his company, Myspace.

The initial tweet in the series amassed more than 25 million views, as of this writing. It said: "This is Tom Anderson. At 35 years old, he sold Myspace for $580M. Then he bizarrely vanished. Here's his story." The posts then went into detail about Anderson's retirement from corporate America and his apparently "completely silent" life following his retirement.

However, the claim that Anderson disappeared following his time at the helm of Myspace was false.

Anderson co-founded the popular social networking site in 2003 along with Chris DeWolfe, and before long, it became the world's leading social media platform. Myspace automatically made Anderson new users' "first friend," with his photo appearing in a person's top eight friends on the platform, where he was known as "Tom from Myspace," "Myspace Tom" or "My friend, Tom."

In 2005, two years after launching the site, Anderson and DeWolfe sold Myspace to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $580 million. Afterward, Anderson continued working as the company's president. He retired from active involvement with Myspace in 2009 or 2010 as its popularity waned and Facebook usurped it as the most popular social networking site.

Rather than starting another high-profile business venture, Anderson seemed to drop off the face of the earth. After leaving Myspace, he immersed himself in world travel and photography, capturing photographs of landscapes and exotic destinations like Thailand, Bhutan and the Maldives.

Architectural Digest interviewed Anderson in 2017, where he discussed his passion for travel photography, a hobby he said he discovered while attending Burning Man in 2011. "I took photos at the event and couldn't believe that was coming from my own camera. I was hooked instantly," he said. "I like to photograph amazing scenes in nature — jaw dropping moments that are hard to believe they are even real."

While he has accounts across multiple social media platforms — where his profile pictures are the same low-resolution photo he used on his Myspace profile beginning in 2003 — Anderson is not an active poster and will often go years between updates.

His last Facebook post was in 2020, and before that he was active in June 2017, telling his followers he had been living in Oahu, Hawaii, part-time since retiring. A link to his personal website, myspacetom.com, led to an inactive URL.

Anderson has a significant following on Instagram, where he shares his adventures and artistic work with his 668,000 followers under the handle @myspacetom. His bio reads: "Former 1st friend! Will bring love to all. Inspired to connect. Hobbies: golf, surf, interior design, writing, creativity. Life Extension-Don't die!"

On April 26, 2024, Anderson posted a video to Instagram he filmed while golfing with friends, with the caption, "A day with the boys, fit by @studentsgolf (yes, you can actually get those pants for yourself!)— I shot the video using the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, pretty easy!"

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6PAv03vbQm/?hl=en

On X, his last post was a reply to the company's owner Elon Musk on March 1, 2024, while in June 2021 he shared with the world that he was "excited to be a SpaceX investor."

According to a 2017 Business Insider article, Anderson had been splitting his time between his three homes in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Hawaii, while in 2019, the Los Angeles Times reported that he purchased the former West Hollywood home of Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers for $3.8 million.

Although Anderson, now 53, maintains a low profile and no longer leads a major social media corporation, he did not disappear after selling Myspace for $580 million. Rather, it appears he simply chose to live life less in the public eye.

Snopes has previously written about unusual disappearances, including the disappearance of Australian pilot Frederick Paul Valentich, and the strange disappearance of "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin's husband, Don Lewis.

Sources:

"3 Social Media Networks Before Facebook." Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/081315/3-social-media-networks-facebook.asp. Accessed 30 May 2024.

"Featured Content on Myspace." Myspace, https://myspace.com/discover/featured. Accessed 30 May 2024.

Haughey, Lauren. "What Happened to 'Myspace Tom' Who Sold Platform for £454m Then 'Vanished.'" The Mirror, 28 May 2024, https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/what-happened-myspace-tom-who-32907266.

Hirsh, Sophie. "Myspace Tom Is Now a Photographer." Architectural Digest, 5 May 2017, https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/myspace-tom-now-taking-stunning-photos-around-the-globe.

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/myspacetom/. Accessed 30 May 2024.

Loudenback, Tanza. "The Multi-Millionaire Founder of MySpace Retired before He Was 40 to Travel the World — Here Are Some of His Most Stunning Photos." Business Insider, 3 May 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/myspace-founder-tom-anderson-traveling-photos-2017-6.

"Remember Tom From Myspace? This Is What He's Doing Now." MTV, https://www.mtv.com.au/news/xd5t57/remember-tom-from-myspace-this-is-what-he-s-doing-now. Accessed 30 May 2024.

"Tom From Myspace Sold The Social Media Platform Just 2 Years After Launching It For $580 Million And Then Retired In His 30s — Now He's 'Enjoying The Good Life.'" Yahoo Finance, 13 Feb. 2024, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tom-myspace-sold-social-media-153011703.html.

Twitter, et al. "Chainsmokers' Drew Taggart Sells West Hollywood Home to Tom from Myspace." Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2019, https://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-drew-taggart-west-hollywood-20190426-story.html.

---. "Chainsmokers' Drew Taggart Sells West Hollywood Home to Tom from Myspace." Los Angeles Times, 26 Apr. 2019, https://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hotprop-drew-taggart-west-hollywood-20190426-story.html.

WINIFRED, DIRK. "What Is Myspace Tom Doing Now?" Showbiz CheatSheet, 28 Feb. 2020, https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/what-is-myspace-tom-doing-now.html/.