An update to my post earlier today that News Corp., under new CEO of Digital Media Jonathan Miller, is looking to replace MySpace CEO and cofounder Chris DeWolfe. We’ve confirmed that things are actually moving much faster than we first understood, and that a decision has already been made to terminate Chris DeWolfe’s employment with MySpace. We’ve also been told that the core MySpace executive team will follow.
MySpace has a dozen or so “execs,” but our guess is that it’s the very senior team that will be terminated: cofounders Chris DeWolfe (CEO), Tom Anderson (President) and Aber Whitcomb (CTO). Removing any more of the team would be much more than a morale blow to the company – it would also bring operations to a screaming halt.
Our understanding is that a new CEO has already been recruited and is in the final stages of contract negotiations. An announcement could come as soon as this week or next. We’ll be posting a shortlist of who we believe are the likely candidates for the CEO position shortly.
Wow. If we were to think of the equivalent to this in something like Facebook or Twitter…. Pretty serious stuff going on over there. I just remembered the two top dogs over there sitting around the table with Charlie Rose. This had to be brewing since before then, no?
Chris DeWolfe’s out of MySpace? I can’t believe it! Definitely this has to be brewing for long. But why such a sudden blow to the top execs? What’s exactly cooking inside MySpace?
Are they trying to repeat what apple did to itself back in 80’s?? I don’t understand how and why do parasites think of taking such “crooked decisions” on a company against a person who actually built it… morally so unethical.
I can only sympathize with the core team though…:(
marvin
http://yousuggest.us
Yes, I too feel the same. How can you wipe out a co-founder from the face of a company. If he is quitting on his own terms, that is different. But if he is pushed out, it is grossly unethical.
But if he is pushed out, it is grossly unethical.
what are you talking about? founders are fired all the time, every day.
Is this a “board” decision? I’m not up on how big companies can do this, so please feel free to educate me. How can you FIRE the founder? Our company has been turned upside down several times over the last couple of years on “board” decisions, even tho they aren’t the ones seeing/taking care of people. Ridiculous! So, if this guy FOUNDED myspace, I assume he needed financial backers, and so, was paid to keep a hand in the business? He must have sold the company? Sorry if I’m incredibly naive, just trying to understand.
Chris DeWolfe is the founder only in the sense that he was there at the beginning (though even then, he and Tom Anderson were already working for another company). This company, Intermix Media, which original owned MySpace, sold it to News Corp, which now owns it. So even though Chris founded MySpace, he isn’t the owner (not by a long shot); he’s very much just an employee of News Corporation, which can terminate him at any time.
Melanie said…
So even though Chris founded MySpace, he isn’t the owner (not by a long shot); he’s very much just an employee of News Corporation, which can terminate him at any time.
Well said Melanie. People, it all comes back to property rights. Who legitimately owns MySpace? We all know who the owner is.
If someone sells me his/her car and I now keep the car in my possession, but I request the original owner to perhaps do some maintenance work for me since there are a few things that I need to understand about the condition of the car before I can fully take over its operations. If the original owner is slack in doing this maintenance work, then I can fire him/her for whatever reason. It is now my property and not his/hers anymore. The right to that property is mine alone and it is irrelevant whether he/she used to own the car or not.
So, respect the rights of the owner/s to what they own.
I like the Apple analogy but what they are really missing is fact that social network not just about having a relationship with your friends via a social platform you are also having a relationship with the company or platform. Tom is the company for a user experience.
For us who work for MySpace, this is an extremely sad day. I sure hope that it is merely rumor & speculation. Aber & Tom are among the most gifted people I have ever encountered. Our website has overcome scalability challenges that other sites could never ever imagine. A new CEO? OK – makes some sense. But cutting Tom & Aber certainly does not!
I will delete my account with myspace if they fire Tom. I’m not joking. I will encourage my friends to do so as well.
Why would you quit MySpace? I am sure you didnt join the network for Tom or Chris! Execs changing is a practice with every other company. I wonder why you make a big fuss about it.
Because I have had my account since before it was sold to the big wigs of FIM. Tom is the face of MySpace. He has been there since the beginning and does not deserve to be pushed out of something he created. And yes, any replacement of Tom would ruin MySpace. Furthermore, I do not think that MySpace has a poor format. I love the way MySpace is set up. Everyone I know is on there, and they love it too. But once they push Tom out, it is over. Seriously, would the Ellen Show be the same without Ellen? Would Oprah still be a top show without her? Tom Anderson is to MySpace what Oprah and Ellen are to their shows. Tom=Myspace. And yes, I will delete my account in a heartbeat.
all this time and this is what inspires you to delete your account? what, do you think their replacements will make the site worse or something?
Be easy on her guys, maybe she just has an attachment to Tom.
I don’t see myspace without tom honestly. He is Mr. Myspace.
Mr. MySpace? Hmm… sounds good.
Mr. MySpace? Hmm… sounds good. Then, who is Ms. MySpace, according to you
I think its a great and a gutsy decision. Though I am no one to comment on the likes of Chris and Tom, I believe they are hugely overrated.
MySpace as a product is an average product and it got popular because it was amongst the first. Right from the beginning everyone knew that MySpace as a product was not very well thought of and it just needed a “Facebook” to overtake it in no time because you could clearly see a great vision behind the product and an even better execution.
Myspace will not miss anything by the departure of these executives and on the contrary will save around $50 million a year or even more which is considerable, if not huge.
What mySpace needs is fresh set of ideas, people with innovation on how to monetize and even more importantly bring the loyalty to millions of its users. Sadly Chris and Tom seem to have run out of ideas themselves.
I will certainly eat my words if I see Chris or Tom starting a new company and making it super successful again.
Good Luck MySpace. Good Luck Chris, Good Luck Tom.
Wondering about morale? First boot the founders, what’s next, your job is move to India… This is a classic old media corporate move, they are bleeding the lifeblood of the company. If they didn’t like what MySpace is, they shouldn’t have bought it.
Replacing CEOs is understandable, but I don’t understand why would the founders be pushed out like this. They are the DNA of MySpace and took it to where it was, and probably have a better idea than anyone else on what can/can’t be done with it in the future.
Any speculation on the real reason ? They didn’t get along with higher management, poor performance or something else ?
Why would they be pushed out?
Because, if you hadn’t noticed, the DNA of MySpace actually sucks.
Cmon….like it or not… MySpace has been the biggest social network, with tens of millions of users and pulling in close to $1 billion a year. Surely these founders did something right, and don’t deserve to be pushed out like this.
If it did, why would you buy it in the first place??
Not just DNA, everything in it does.
you are incredibly naive almost childlike. Do you believe in fairies?
Yikes. I wonder what is the reason for getting rid of the top people? Performance? Compensation costs? Or maybe it’s just a plain old personality clash.
Wow, as much as I dislike MySpace this seems to be huge news to me as MySpace has already been on the extreme decline already. So who replaces the default “friend” that Tom as filled for so long?
It would be LOL if they changed it to Rupert Murdoch.
Wow, firing Tom from MySpace is like firing Steve Jobs from Apple. Big mistake. Even if he’s just a figurehead, he’s the face of the company.
FWIW, I deleted my MySpace a few months ago, there’s no real reason to be a member of it anymore.
Exactly!! Why are they doing this? Is it to just fire up a controversy and attract attention? All of this seems very premature.
ahh, good point. publicity, ala Tonya Harding style!
Are you calling Tom a visionary?
I think MySpace was definitely a visionary product.
Agreed. Having worked here for several years and seeing Tom in action, I’d say he is. And so was MySpace. It hit a rough patch, but we are pulling out of it. The pace of change has accelerated. Unfortunately it’s hard to get things done in a company structure like this. Way easier at Facebook and Twitter when money is not a concern…
True. MySpace was indeed an innovative product and you cannot take Tom out of it. I strongly feel this is just to boost up the company’s publicity and turn eyes on them so that they next moves are watched.
Are you calling Steve Jobs a visionary? LOL.
Yeah, MySpace sure is the iPhone of social networking sites.
What does that even mean?
He’s trying to mock the previous post by saying MySpace was not innovative or revoluationary like the iPhone. Fact is, it was. And then it got mired in FIM-middle management. It’s hard to execute your vision when you have bosses who know nothing about the Internet (FIM execs) breathing down your back.
not in the slightest. Jobs is a perpetual innovator and winner, these folks appear to be one trick ponies. next you are going to tell me that Mark Zuckerberg is an irreplacable force and the only person who could be the CEO of Facebook…LOL, LOL
Terminating Aber Whitcomb would be a HUGE error!!!
In other news, you can’t upload a profile image or background photo in twitter. Its broken. Twitter can’t write simple photo upload code. Write a article about this. Maybe it’ll make them fix it faster.
In other news, you can’t upload a profile image or background photo in twitter.
Thank god.
In other news, you can’t upload a profile image or background photo in twitter. Its broken. Twitter can’t write simple photo upload code.
No, that’s wrong. Every Twitter account can have its own profile photograph – the photo appears next each post that the user makes. You also have complete control over the background that appears on your profile page, including being able to upload an image. You can confirm this just by looking at a Twitter account – for example: http://api.twit...om/GeraldKelley (not my account).
sorry to hear that. maybe we can expect some exciting changes for myspace. they definitely need to expand their universal social-search footprint and presence. can they ever be considered a serious business social-search destination? myspac is embedded in the minds of users as a entertainment social destination and that will be difficult if not impossible to reverse.
TeamLocator.com – your only as good as the websites around you.
Dude, locator guy, you suck man. Locate your sense first.
You want myspace to change from “entertainment social destination” to a “business social-search destination”? So that their “universal social-search footprint and presence” is expanded?
Where did you learn these words man? You suck so bad. I can’t believe I read your entire paragraph.
i appreciate your mundane commentary. http://dictiona.../browse/mundane
You need a buzzword dictionary my friend…
Psst. You forgot to ask @mylocator if you could subscribe to his newsletter so you could learn more about “universal social search footprints”.
they definitely need to expand their universal social-search footprint and presence.
What companies can you name who have successfully navigated a shift such as you describe?
Let me guess:
navigateshiftlocator.com *rofl*
no one can navigate without strategic multichannel location based niche social offerings. the top 5 social sites have embedded branding and multichannel communication issues (awful domains). currently trying to satisfy user experience is like having 5 pairs of shoes to fit 1000 different people and professions.
ShoesLocator.com – one site fits all
Wow. Your multisyllabic polyintentional pseudo-jargon is really making me realize that you’re not just advertising a bunch of products by posting your quasipsychotic mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t men anything to anyone.
Since your English isn’t very good, your first statement should have been: “MySpace’s social networking system is too limited, it should incorporate business networking as well”. Your statement “strategic multichannel location based niche social offerings” should be translated: “social website content that targets the user.”
If you only use a dictionary to choose your words, you’ll make no sense at all. Try a basic high school English writing course. That should help you pull your middle-management head out of your arse.
@RobCain. And he forgot the obvious “synergistic efficiencies” that could be realized by leveraging a multichannel rollup of web 2.0 social graphs. He obviously has a lot to learn.
“your only as good as the websites around you.”
That would be “you’re”, yet another reason nobody takes you seriously.
You should apply for the post of new lolspace CEO; I’m sure they’d appreciate being told which direction they should head in from someone who operates a directory on a free host like Ning. WTG.
One thing that bothers me is that TechCrunch yet to ban this guy.
Ridiculous.
So what happens when you join after this Tom is not your first friend anymore ?
Hey KFC still has the ‘dead’ colonel as its mascot
you just need to give Miller a chance. I mean, he came in and really turned AOL around. It’s sitting pretty right now. I’m sure the same will happen at MySpace.
It will be a blessing in disguise for the founder(s).
They may again come up with something new.
that would be the ultimate comeback. the founders have already been blessed. now it’s all about redemption. if they relaunch it should get easier the second time around. i doubt they would just retire from digital media. i predict another founders VC venture fund.
GodLocator.com – redemption rules!
It was time.
After having worked there for 2 years and seeing their “vision” executed (literally), I can honestly say this does not surprise me one bit. Simply put, the company was an ever-expanding clusterfuck and they never figured out how to grow and nurture it properly, to say nothing of not having an overall vision of what MySpace should have been focusing on in the first place.
Like B.Mendelson said, it was time.
Finally! A post from somebody that actually worked at FIM/MySpace. As an ex-FIMmer myself, I remember gettign the feeling that something was wrong every time I saw the legions of code monkeys barely out of their teens, hyped up on Red Bull that kept MySpace running. There have been serious operations problems going on there for a long time. From the outside looking in, it’s a great investment because of the advertising revenue opportunities that a huge social network aimed at MySpace’s target demographic can generate (the reason News Corp acquired them in the first place). It’s sad to see them go, but they’re beholden to Rupert Murdoch now and the News Corp shareholders. Honestly, they could care less who their first friend is when they sign up on MySpace. I wish them all well, but strategically they’ve been falling behind for years.
@McNasty,
I know of a guy who worked/works at myspace, and your description of hyped-up red bull code monkeys perfectly describes this guy. He was a disaster in the making, both professionally and socially, but he thought he was the sh*ts. If he is any indication of the make-up of the myspace dev team, I can imagine how screwed up that culture is.
It takes a lot of courage to fling mud from a pseudo anonymous alias like Drew or comical ones like McNasty. Don’t generalizing the MySpace dev team as you have done provides no value and only points out your lack of respect for places you have worked for and those peers whom you’ve worked with.
Out of all of the places I have worked, MySpace has proven to possess (and still does) the best minds and attitudes in some of their developers. Yes, I said *some*. Hopped-up, Red Bull drinking code monkeys can be found within any large development organization and I do not assert that MySpace is immune to the likes of these, but I do state that they are the exception. The majority are average (imagine those statistics…) but the gems make my days (and some nights) here exciting and fun.
So either come forward and make your statements, or crawl back under your anonymity and STFU.
KTHXBAI
Robbie, you’re right. It’s not fair to characterize the lot of MySpace developers or employees as “code monkeys”. Only a group of passionate, committed people could keep that site running int he face of all of the challenges that you’ve had. I ALWAYS respected that. BUT do you admit that there have been some problems with leadership there for a LONG time that haven’t been addressed (because of the siloed corporate culture and tight-gripped executives that characterize all of NewsCorp/FOX’s operating units)? That’s more to the point. It wasn’t my intent to bash the dev team over there, but more to point out that a change in culture — starting with the old guard — might help put MySpace on the right track again.
I work at MySpace myself currently. No sour grapes. This company is not lacking in vision. Out of the 200 or so developers, I am one of the few that actually gets to work directly with Tom and because of that, I am very aware of the vision. Tom Anderson is the hardest working person in the company. He’s passionate about MySpace, even though he’s a millionaire who doesn’t need to ever work again. I have nothing but respect for the guy and can’t believe this is happening. He is down to earth and sets an example for me. I’m excited to work at MySpace because of him, and that’s something the outside world never sees because Tom rarely speaks in the press. I wish he would. Now it may be too late.
I do not know Tom, and I have never worked at MySpace, but I can honestly tell you that I get the impression that Tom is a great visionary from everything I have seen and read. I know that he has worked hard for MySpace, and I am so happy that he is not being pushed out. Dewolfe will be leaving, but as long as Tom stays, I think MySpace has a future.
who cares who they fire. i was hoping this announcement would bring up some positive changes to myspace because its definitely lacking. facebook is horrible at times also and twitter is what it is. maybe twitter is all we need or maybe we should all just go out and live our lives without these things…
Noooooooooo! I hate leaving my house, sunshine bad, fresh air hurts my lungs. That would mean I have to meet real people.
also…the future is video anyway. webcams, voice recorders, etc. we shouldnt have to interact through typing or texting. as much as our generation seems to be “connected”…I feel we are less connected because people dont even want to CALL anyone anymore…they just text. i dont understand it…but I am guilty at times also…
Its about time. The market share loss, failing to meet projected revenue goals, and how about the simple fact that the basic usability of the site is terrible. People want communication tools. The voyeurism that was / is Myspace can not continue as it has. Platform openness, more features as “Myspace Lite” can only help to slow the funk that is Myspace. Sorry Tom.
Founders may be pushed out regularly, but its usually by egotistical VCs/board members that have never run a business themselves..
with the founders goes the soul, authenticity, vision.. big dumb companies (or VCs) can’t put a price on that.
how silly.
@founder,
WRONG. The leader of the company should be matched with the needs of that company. As a company goes through its lifecycle, these leadership needs change considerably. One person (founder, etc) typically is not suited for all of these phases. Founders are great at “founding”, but typically cannot effectively manage a more mature (larger) company (nor do they really want to). Its not in their make-up. That’s why Google’s founders brought in Eric Schmidt.
this is a good thing for chris and tom, they got paid there 15 mil a year, and now can go off and do there own thing with no regrets. The titanic is sinking, and they are fortunate enough to get off before it goes down for good.
Having worked there for quite some time I can tell you that the original success of myspace happened in spite of itself. With poor leadership and giant egos, it got lucky 3 separate times. The reason it first caught fire is they were too lazy to secure their own code and they left users homepages open to personal customization. This WAS NOT on purpose. In addition on top of the three mentioned executives the company and sister companies (Music, Slingshotlabs and MySpace International) there are a handful of overpaid sterile executives that just don’t get it. I don’t know many people there who have a single nice thing to say about ANYONE up top and as stated before this was a long time coming.
Before I end, people will get pissed at me for being anonymous, but unfortunate I still work in the field and its a terrible political game.
CD
This is the truth. Tom is an incredibly hard working (to a fault), good listening individual that is incredibly passionate (though with a calm demeanor) about the company and he will be fine.
MySpace blew up and has been trying to deal with a huge technical debt while spawning dozens of simultaneous product initiatives and there has never been a strong overseer to manage the chaos. At best, the exec team has focused a team of core players towards large initiatives without giving real authority to anyone to manage said initiatives. The structure of the company almost violently shifted to product verticals after expanding way too much and in too many locations combined with poor management that encouraged territorial attitudes.
The irony is that all of this is much to the fault of the compensation structure offered to key players. One in which the large part of their compensation is based upon a profit plan that rewards the quarterly profits rather than focusing on strategic growth.
That is true. I have no say about the execs and I do hear that Tom is a hardworking, down-to-earth guy.
But the big ego among the lower management and their mistreatment to employees are a big issue and udnermining myspace as well.
It is a rule of thumb that managers has higher credibility than employees and they are favored. But with myspace, I suggest upper management soon realize how these managers and directors are actually compromising the company.
The most disgusting behavior is that the data warehouse manager is prohibiting several of her employees from working on tasks. Were she ever thinking about the company’s favor when doing this…of course not, she is thinking about hreself and her big, arrogant ego.
Well this isn’t a surprise to me at all. Myspace has been up against a never ceasing tide of evolution that they have failed miserably at countering for quite some time.
With the innovations that came through Twitter, and the ability for Facebook to grow and evolve, MySpace was just stuck in the mud in a core technology that needed a complete overhaul to keep up.
Just one example is how people still need to open up raw code boxes to add any advanced functionality. Sure, they were revolutionary in how you could customize your space. Yet it’s so web 1.0 in execution.
I bet dollars for donuts that Chris and Tom are being sent out to pasture for that very reason. For all their vision, they became stuck in that very vision and it’s evolution.
It is really painful for the founder
They may again come up with something new.
it’s sometimes a good idea to get fresh blood & new ideas, but getting rid of tom anderson would be a mistake as he’s not only the figurehead for the company but also its product leader and chief customer representative. tom knows myspace and its users in a way that no other employee does or ever will.
“Removing any more of the team would be much more than a morale blow to the company – it would also bring operations to a screaming halt.”
I’m not sure this is accurate. Do you know for sure that the staff love these guys? MySpace is likely on autopilot by now so I doubt anything will come to a screeching halt. If they’re good, they’ve made themselves obsolete. Having said that, I wish Chris would smile for a picture once in a while. What’s with the Fonzie thing?
Yeah, I expected this, but wow.
i am proud to say that I have never visited any page on myspace. who cares who they fire apart from the individuals concerned.
Then why you care to read the post? lol..
I simply hope the new CEO takes care of an API to reduce the deficit to portals like facebook. Otherwise it might become difficult for them to survive long-term.
Do you really believe this will save MySpace?
My guess is that they don’t let Tom keep all his friends either.
Oh noes, I’m gonna lose my only friend on myspace.
Maybe they will have the cash then to hire someone who know html.
With Kevin on this one – if they were good…they would not be required for day to day operations just doing things like partying in L.A?
The best to them all…
myspace was popular for a long time because there was nothing better.
during that time, myspace did not do much to improve itself. Its UI still feels like a clunky website from 5 years ago. sure they added more “stuff” to myspace but they have done little to improve the usability and coherence of it. it feels more like a bunch of different websites under one domain than one integrated site. also, the search features on it are awful and don’t seem to have improved. i use google to search bands/people on myspace.
this is like when myspace overtook friendster because friendster got lazy while they were #1. friendster eventually caught up but it was too late and everyone jumped ship to myspace. Now facebook is overtaking myspace because myspace got lazy. the senior staff should go.
Has anyone … ANYONE … here tried to customize a webpage in MySpace (pre 2.0)??? It is/was a stinking pile of shit that is just plain embarassing, requiring you to do hack-job html that is subsequently uneditable and unreadable. Creating social network apps for this platform is damn near impossible without a 10% of your users complaining about how it doesn’t show up or looks funky because of the poor foresight.
Okay, the new 2.0 profiles are good step in the right direction, but come far, far too late.
A founder of a 3-year-old company who is not heavily involved in day to day operations is not a useful person.
What is myspace without tom? lol I don’t even know I can stay on there if he is gone.
I hope News Corp Shareholders realize the “reality” of a move as such. The rules are not the same here, this is 21st century new territory. Myspace was boosted by a fickle cool factor which is currently being transferred to Twitter. What Myspace needs now is stable growth bolstered by new ideas which foster the same kind of attractive coolness.
Firing the face of myspace only reinforces the idea among those fickle users that the place is now a ghost town. What a bonehead move. It may make good traditional business sense but in this era it is truly boneheaded.
I am very surprised at how many of you are upset about this. I have seen this coming for a while and believe it to be overdue. Actually firing them may be a step too far but you have to realize that keeping them around keeps myspace in the past. They need new minds and a fresh perspective going into the future. I personally don’t see Myspace doing anything revalutionary. They have hit a plateau, but we will see who the new CEO is.
P.S. Had Apple never fired Steve Jobs he would have never gotten the outsider’s perspective that he got for when he made his return. The Apple of today could has very well been like most other computers (oh yeah and no iPod/iPhone- which I just used to type this in class.) thank god for Steve Jobs being fired.
Whoops… I mispelled *revolutionary. I know how all of you like to tear apart other people’s spelling.
WHY ARE THE COMMENTS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN ARRINGTON? THIS IS ANNOYING.
Clearly Tom cares for the company. He personally reads messages to him everynight and replies, fixing issues, thinking about what the users wants. It’s not very common for people to do that in companies these days. The day Tom leaves MySpace is a sad day no matter how you cut it.
I think it’s odd that Jonathan Miller is treated with such reverence – for what? AOL? DeWolfe and Anderson built Myspace – which is now another sinking ship. What’s with “high-powered” CEO’s – they all suck. Think Scully. Surly this will expedite Myspace’s current decline. This is about egos and internal dynamics – nothing to do with what’s best for the social network.
How and why is this happening? I haven’t heard MySpace being bought recently.
I used to be a MySpace snob and only use Facebook until I discovered what an incredible place it is for entertainment. My account is purely a repository for musicians and bands I find online everyday, and who almost inevitably have a MySpace page. No one beat MySpace for music.
Let’s beat Michael to the punch. Time to speculate on the new CEO. Oh, wait, I really can’t think of anyone right now. And you? Who’s your pick?
- a FIM exec? If so, who?
- a Facebook exec, if so, who?
- a Yahoo exec, if so, who?
- an AOL exec, if so, who?
- other?
Curious to read your thoughts.
What about Gideon Yu? I think he is available since Facebook decided to railroad him
I seem to recall that as part of the Fox deal Chris and Tom had golden parachutes of something like 10m each for staying on for 3-5 years. I would imagine that those funds and time off are looking pretty good about now.
Besides, how the hell can you have any respect for a guy who dates Paris Hilton for Christ’s sake. DeWolfe is a friggin poser and typical LA pretty boy.
I think Myspace has lost the social networking war. Twitter and facebook are a two headed monster laying waste to that segment. Myspace has devolved into a niche player of social networking IMHO. I doubt a new CEO will have much in impact one way or the other.
I agree if you look at the product, not if you look at the company. They definitely lost a major battle, but I would not say they lost the war, yet. Since Social Media will not be a fad but a multiple marathon race, there is still plenty of opportunities to redeem themselves (remember that Facebook is still bleeding cash).
Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin provides some good reading if you want background and full understanding of the story. She wrote a book called “Stealing Myspace” which gives the backstory. http://stealingmyspace.com/
Myspace is playing in arguably the most competitive & high growth arena on the planet. And right now…they’re not winning despite being the largest player.
Corporate success has no mercy, no values, no sentiment, and no allegiances except to itself.
I’m a huge myspace supporter but admittedly it’s becoming harder to give my myspace accounts the same energy I give my other SN accounts. There are huge functionality and usability gaps despite the great effort and the challenges already overcome.
I hope this change delivers functionally so that our investment on this platform continues to be beneficial.
There’s a good post about this who debacle on SinglePill.com
Post a bulletin about this to 20 of your friends or so myspace doesn’t get deleted.
/sarcasm
As a founder and CEO of a start-up your job is always on the line. When you pay $500M+ for something you can do what you like with it. Why anyone cares about these two is beyond me. Didn’t they walk away with 50 – 100M each?
Ouch! That’s gotta burn for Chris and Tom. Though I guess when you sell your baby you introduce that risk.
Rumor has it that I’m in the running for the position. I must say I’m going to have to give it some thought…facebook would be a more ideal fit for me:)
it’s about time. This guy never understood sales, all he knew how to do was drive his Maserati and flirt inappropriately with every woman in FIM.