An investor group including Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has emerged as a front-runner in negotiations with News Corp to take control of the media firm's social media site, Myspace, says a media report.

"An investor group has emerged as a front-runner in negotiations with News Corp to take control of Myspace... as the media company rushes to complete a transaction by June 30 -- the end of its fiscal year," The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a source.

The report said that Kotick had been approached about being part of the investor group, but has not yet committed.

Any investment by him would be personal and small, and Activision wouldn't be involved, it added.

While News Corp continues to talk to several potential bidders, negotiations are now focused on a group that would take over the social media site, but leave News Corp with about a 20 per cent stake, the report noted.

Since News Corp started accepting bids for the struggling social-media site around April, a number of private equity firms and other Internet start-ups have expressed interest.

Increasingly, News Corp has focused on deals in which it would retain an ownership stake in the business and hand over operational control.

According to the publication, some other suitors who have remained interested in recent weeks include private equity firm Criterion Capital Partners LLC and social networks Tagged Inc and myYearbook, the report pointed out.

After Friendster, Myspace was the most social networking space in the US between 2005 and 2007, but it soon lost out to Facebook.