May 30 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp. agreed to buy Photobucket Inc. and Flektor Inc. to give users of its MySpace social- networking Web site tools to manage digital pictures.

Both sites will be added to News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media unit, the New York-based company said today in a statement. News Corp. didn't disclose the price, which UBS AG analyst Michael Morris said may be as much as $300 million.

``It makes a lot of sense,'' Morris said. The two sites offer MySpace technology to upgrade its video and picture capabilities and stay current with young users. ``It gives them protection against obsolescence,'' he said.

Photobucket and Flektor, along with Google Inc.'s YouTube and Yahoo! Inc.'s Flickr, are capitalizing on the growth of inexpensive digital cameras and high-speed Internet connections. More than 30 million people worldwide visited Photobucket's Web site in March, almost twice the number a year earlier, according to the research firm ComScore Inc.

MySpace accounts for about 40 percent of the links to photos on Photobucket, said Peter Levinsohn, head of Fox Interactive Media unit. The company will continue to operate as a standalone business and News Corp. will help it expand outside the U.S., he said.

Seeking Acquisitions

Photobucket Chief Executive Officer Alex Welch, who will remain with the company as president of the site, said Fox Interactive Media was ``a natural choice'' for Photobucket.

News Corp. Class A shares rose 24 cents to $22.43 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have risen 4.4 percent this year.

News Corp., led by Rupert Murdoch, is also trying to buy Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion. The company bought MySpace for $580 million in October 2005. The site had 107.7 million visitors in March, more than double a year earlier, ComScore said.

``We have an aggressive acquisition strategy,'' Levinsohn said.

Photobucket hired Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to evaluate a sale of the company last year. In May 2006, the company raised $10.5 million from Trinity Ventures and Insight Venture Partners.

Flektor provides users with tools to edit and arrange photos and video clips for presentation to others or for posting on blogs and other Web sites. Started last year, Flektor is based in Culver City, California.

Photobucket generates most of its revenue from advertising. Users who pay a subscription fee of $25 a year get more storage for their pictures and don't have to see the ads.

``This gives News Corp. a foot in the door to get MySpace users accustomed to the pay model,'' said New York-based Morris, who rates the shares ``buy'' and doesn't own any.

To contact the reporters on this story: Cecile Daurat in New York at cdaurat@bloomberg.net; Tim Mullaney in New York at tmullaney1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 30, 2007 16:32 EDT