MySpace has announced it will acquire Photobucket for $250 million, officially bringing the photo sharing site into the MySpace fold. Photobucket has been looking for a buyer for several months and after a dispute last month which led to [MySpace blocking Photobucket images and video][3], the two companies apparently hashed out a deal.

For more coverage of the business angles, check out Epicenter which [covered the rumors][1] that surfaced yesterday regarding the buyout.

At the risk of being alarmist, Photobucket as a MySpace property doesn't bode well for users who aren't fans of Rubert Murdoch's underage playground. 

Techcrunch [reports][4] that roughly 1.8 million of Photobucket’s visitors don't currently visit MySpace, and for them the deal could ruin sharing on non-MySpace properties. While no plans have yet been announced, it seems likely that Photobucket could morph into a MySpace-only property.

For those Photobucket users thinking it might be time to do more with your photos, have a look at our [Flickr coverage of late][2]. 

While Photobucket is primarily about hosting your images, Flickr offers a number of options that go far beyond image hosting, enabling you to share your images with the internet at large.







[1]: http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/05/rumor_control_m.html "Rumor Control: MySpace Takes Photobucket?"
[2]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/05/yahoo_photos_us.html "Here Are 4 Reasons You'll Love Flickr"
[3]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/myspace_is_bloc.html "MySpace Is Blocking Photobucket Videos"
[4]: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/07/myspacephotobucket-user-overlap-is-nearly-100/ "MySpace/Photobucket: User Overlap Is Nearly 100%"