Company Longevity: Are you Built to Flip or Built to Last? @NewsCorp Seeks Buyer for @MySpace

Man...  the story from Mashable on MySpace earlier this week really got me thinking. Then, when I Googled "What is Tom Anderson doing now?"  It came back with this Quora result where the former VP of IT OPs for MySpace came back and said "He's watching a lot of baseball and enjoying life, I hope!" 

Two random un-related thoughts:

1) Is this necessarily bad? I'm blanking on the term that describes this philosophy,  but isn't this (NewsCorp's sale of MySpace) a little like chopping off a cancer infested leg to save the body?  Sorry... to be gross but you get the idea.  Isn't there a word for that?  Anyway, I'm sure that the folks who were in the latest round of MySpace layoffs have a different opinion, but at some point you gotta shed the dead weight right?  If you try and try and try again, but you just can't zap the cancer once and for all,  isn't is better to lop that appendage off if it significantly increases your chance of survival?  Damn... what the term/word for this scenario? 

and 

2) Is it me.....or are company life spans getting shorter?  The start-up world is littered with products and companies that have been bought, integrated, and then summarily killed.  Or is there a new class of todays Zuckerbergs' that want to be tomorrow's Jobs'?  Does Zuck wanna look back on his life and say, "I was a game changer?"  In my eyes.... the guy already is!!  He was Time Mag's person of the year for christ sakes. How many people can claim that?  Will his profile be raised in my eyes or that of the public's if he goes on to win the Nobel Peace Prize? Perhaps, but for what? Look at Steve Jobs,  the guy is on his second leave of absence due to his ailing health.  The guy is no doubt an icon of our time,  but at what cost?  Are people going to like him more when he's dead?  

I think I'm definitely in the flip camp.  Keep your Time Magazine Man of the Year, keep your Nobel Peace Prize.  Let me be a part of something special that creates value, then let's flip it and get outta the game.....  or better yet,  let's go watch one!