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COVER STORY
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Tim 
Vanderhook

President and CEO – Specific Media, Irvine

OC METRO's Hot 25 for 2011Published: November 01, 2011

Hot Factor: Specific Media this year acquired MySpace for a cool $35 million, and Vanderhook has plans, with partner Justin Timberlake, to revive the brand.

Specific Media of Irvine is hardly a household name. It’s an ad network, owned by Vanderhook, a Cal State Fullerton graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications with an arts emphasis. However, this summer Specific Media bought MySpace, which is a household name. Vanderhook partnered with Justin Timberlake, who is the household name for many of his fans, and suddenly Specific Media is getting national attention.
    
The purchase price: $35 million. Timberlake is part owner and will be its creative consultant.

Says Vanderhook: “The question is, can we take the best of both worlds and put them together in a single company?” Vanderhook believes they can.

Specific Media has the respect of the ad world. It has 500 employees in 11 countries. But Vanderhook told Billboard magazine last summer that he wants to take the company to a new level – to make it a digital media company. MySpace is a good fit, he says, because it has 70 million users a month, despite being badly overshadowed by Facebook. Vanderhook says that he plans to throw a lot of “firepower” into the mix, and expects that Timberlake will “invigorate the MySpace brand.”

Editor’s Note: To see who made our “Hot 25” lists in prior years, visit our Archives page.
   
And, we’re now on the hunt for exceptional women who are impacting O.C. If you know someone who deserves to be on our 20 Women to Watch list, please let us know at our Nominate page.