Leadership Change at MySpace

LOS ANGELES: Just a few weeks after News Corporation installed former AOL chief Jonathan Miller as its chief digital officer, the company has announced a management shake-up at MySpace, with co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe stepping down.

MySpace, which News Corp. shelled out $580 million for in 2005, has been steadily losing ground to competitors like Facebook in terms of usage, and has not met its ad revenue targets. Among the likely contenders for the top spot at the company, reports indicate, is former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta.

While DeWolfe’s contract is not being renewed, he will continue to serve on the board of MySpace China and will be a "strategic advisor" to the company, News Corp. said. Meanwhile, fellow co-founder and MySpace president, Tom Anderson, is in discussions with Miller about taking on a different role within the organization.

“Chris and Tom are true pioneers and we greatly value the tremendous job they’ve done in growing MySpace into what it is today,” said Miller. “Thanks largely to their vision, MySpace has become a vibrant creative community with 130 million passionate followers worldwide. It is an enormously successful property and we look forward to building on its achievements with a new management structure we’ll announce in the near future."

Miller took on the post of chief digital officer at News Corp. earlier this month. The ex-AOL chief reports directly to News Corp.’s chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, and oversees MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Jamba and company’s partnership with NBC Universal for Hulu, among other digital properties.