In an interesting turn of events, MySpace CEO (and former COO of Facebook) Owen Van Natta has suddenly stepped down from his position. He will be replaced by two newly created co-Presidents, COO Mike Jones (founder and CEO of Userplane) and Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn (formerly of MTV and Sling fame). Both will report to Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corp.
But let’s back this up….on Feb. 4rth, TechCrunch reported that, in fact, it was Jason Hirschhorn who was on his way out:
But the real problem may have been a lack of chemistry between Hirschhorn and his fellow executives. CEO Van Natta was supposedly hired by Murdoch directly for the job. Hirschhorn and Jones were hired by Digital chief Jon Miller. Since the whole team was brought in at once, Van Natta didn’t have any say at all in the hiring of his two right hand guys.
Even FT reported on the troubles between the executives, siting apparent disagreements between Van Natta and Mr. Miller over Hirschhorn’s role in the company. It seems Van Natta wanted Hirschhorn out and Miller refused.
Too many cooks in the kitchen? Maybe, but can anyone blame Van Netta if he wanted to leave? MySpace is in deep trouble and the numbers are BIG and speak loudly. News Corp paid $580m for the site way back in 2005, and as it stands now, MySpace will miss traffic targets on its $900m search deal with Google, resulting in $100m less than previously thought.
Ouch. Good luck to Hirschhorn and Jones, they will need it. Many insiders already think MySpace is DOA.
MySpace, R.I.P GigaOM
MySpace chief executive steps down FT
Gossip: Everyone Wants Out Of MySpace Business Insider
Owen Van Natta Out As MySpace CEO; Miller’s Memo paidContent
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