MySpace parent company News Corp. continues to leak, off record, that Owen Van Natta is in the final stages of becoming the new CEO of MySpace (one of the more obvious candidates on our list yesterday). Van Natta certainly has the experience on paper to run the company – he was a business development executive at Amazon, the chief revenue officer at Facebook and most recently the CEO of music startup Playlist.com. If the leaks are correct, he’s in the final stages of contract negotiation and his hiring will be announced shortly.
He knows social networking, music/media and the Internet in general, and will certainly be able to get his hands around MySpace’s business. But his hiring is leaving many scratching their heads nonetheless.
Van Natta owns a significant percentage of Facebook stock and is of course intimately knowledgeable about their business. At the very least it’s bad form for him to join Facebook’s primary competitor. At worst there may be legal issues since it will be extremely difficult for him to continue to protect confidential Facebook information in his new job. But it’s widely known that Van Natta feels betrayed by Facebook for not making him the CEO and has a deep dislike of Mark Zuckerberg. The revenge factor in taking the top job at Facebook’s biggest competitor must be making him feel somewhat vindicated.
But…what about Playlist? He took the job just last November, less than six months ago. Investors are relying on him, as are employees, many of which he’s recruited since he joined. To walk away from that job so quickly doesn’t say much for his character. Perhaps there are unknown facts that mitigate the situation, but it doesn’t look good. As bad as Playlist’s business looks right now, the CEO has an obligation to investors and employees to see it through to the end and try to create a good outcome for the company.
At least Van Natta has tried MySpace, and even logged in a couple of days ago. He has six friends on the service and has uploaded a few pictures. His presumed new boss, Jonathan Miller, has yet to create a MySpace profile of his own.
This is actually the third time recently that Van Natta has interviewed for a MySpace-related job. He was a top candidate to lead MySpace Music, but his attempts to sell Playlist to the company as part of the deal left a bad taste in DeWolfe’s mouth. Van Natta also interviewed for the CEO Digital Media job that eventually went to Jonathan Miller.
The whole circus around MySpace this week settles a lot of scores: News Corp execs, long dismayed at DeWolfe’s close relationship with Rupert Murdoch, are gleefully leaking news around DeWolfe getting fired. The fact that they effectively announced Van Natta as the new CEO may have given them some immediate gratification, but it also puts him in a very strong negotiating position – if talks break down now News Corp. looks even more ridiculous than they already do. Van Natta gets his revenge on Facebook, but leaves his current company in terrible situation. And the MySpace executive team sits in stunned silence as they await news on which of them will still have a job next month, and who their new CEO will be.
“To walk away from that job so quickly doesn’t say much for his character.”
I do agree, but with the number of politicians promising to finish terms only to run for higher office, and with character not counting for anything, I am not surprised in the least. Nobody normally seems to care.
Feel bad for playlist.com
Don’t feel bad for playlist. Owen’s contribution was zero.
Yeah, what exactly did he do at Playlist? They were closing record deals (sony) long before he showed up. What a douche.
why would myspace hire someone who owns a signifiance % of a competitor??
so who does he want to success? facebook or myspace.
I can only see conflict of interest
I think myspace has more revenue than facebook. Since everyone is jumping ship from Fakebook, it looks like they will never be profitable or get to IPO. His stock is facebook stock is almost worthless. But he could be a double agent and sink Myspace so that he can cash out the FB stock.
i agree with are his technical qualifications by the way, can he code? like the rest of them at fakebook.com?
University of California, Santa Cruz, Bachelor’s
in what? history…if so, he is history when it is time to speak to the tech people at myspace.com
http://www.link...m/pub/0/0a7/444
Van Natta earned a bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
mypace is fucked….this guy is just a mover…from one place to the next…
This makes total sense to me.
The negotiations I assume OVN is in the mist of includes talking with FB about a buyback of his shares. It’s win-win.
Think MySpace will definitely pay for this. From what is said here, Van Natta seems to be a flippant professional who can leave projects incomplete (the one at Playlist is an example) and acts to avenge his personal hatred.
New CEO fella:
1987 called. It wants its 2-day beard growth back.
Creepy-Palooza!
LOLz deluxe
Nobody’s noticed that Van Natta and DeWolf look 99% the same, down to the gray douchebag hairstyles.
CEOs, they’re all the same faceless bunch of asshats.
Hey Michael,
Seems to me that this is not a match made in heaven. There is too much bad blood and conflicts of interest. Yes, he might be qualified but is this what Myspace needs right now?
Twitter is growing at twice the rate of Facebook. Myspace is pretty much stalling in every category except music. But that interface is pretty much weak and not user friendly.
And what happens when the Google deal expires?
Not sure about this.
Constantine from Music.us
Support the .MUSIC domain extension
What is really wrong with MySpace? First, it was sacking its top execs. Now it is hiring someone who, it seems, will never be able to direct the network in the right way. The guy has created an account only now. Imagine, how long it would take for him to understand the workings of the network.
I think New Corp. is doing this in the hope of MySpace benefiting from Facebook’s ideas/workings. If that is the case, then this guy will have to face the legal battles.
How long do you think it would take to understand a site like MySpace, seriously? It’s not like it’s doing well, so why study it. Plus, everybody and their grandma knows MySpace. Get your head out of your ass.
@crvenk: That pretty much made zero sense.
- not from India
Wow “twitter is growing at twice the rate of facebook”, you might want to look at the number of people signing up to each service. This is not a percentage game. I would also like to know if you think that twitter has made ANY impact on time spent and new users on facebook? I am willing to bet my middle finger that it hasn’t.
maybe he will turn back on all the project play lists that were recently turn off on myspace users. http://www.koke...ned-by-myspace/
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Michael, WHOA! Scathing words. Personally, I’m for Jason C. and S.G. (dream team days)
Owen is a great #2 or #3. I think this is a mistake on his part. MySpace is a broken company and cannot be fixed. Expectations will be for him to turn MySpace into Facebook but that can’t happen.
Owen can easily fail at this role and, if he does, he’ll lose big time.
Agreed, and by hiring an ex-facebooker they are playing catch up, and it’s not gonna work. Their is no loyalty in their user base, and people are switching over to FB in droves.
Also, to make matters even more interesting, Rupert Murdoch will soon realize that Jon Miller is a questionable choice for their stable of assets.
it’ll be interesting to follow what happens to MySpace China after all this. my sources tell me Wendy Deng has lost interest and wants to start up a film production studio with Zhang Zhiyi.
Your sources? And who are you to have sources? where is your bio?
Getting stuffed by both bellman at the Four Seasons in Shanghai does not make you some sort of undercover tech reporter.
Bad blood? Revenge? I didn’t know the tech world was this exciting. All that missing is a love interest to fight over.
lets see new job pays me 30 million vs current salary . which one do i take? 30 million or current salary. hmm ………………………30 million
Do you really think FIM is going to pay him $30million, can I have some of what you’re smoking?
FIM sacked Dewolfe for many reasons, one his high salary, they’re paying Owen MUCH less.
I feel like Miller will do a good job. Sure he was at AOL but do we know the real story there? No, we don’t. We can only assume what media outlets report.
Having worked with some of the execs at MySpace, stories here seem comical.
“the CEO has an obligation to investors and employees to see it through to the end and try to create a good outcome for the company.”
Ummm, why? Since when doesn’t an executive have the same right to opportunistically pursue other ventures that signficantly progress HIS career as a software engineer, diz dev manager, etc..?
People leave companies all the time and I understand the company suffers much more when a CEO leaves than a line level manager or engineer, but seriously, this is an obvious step up for him (regardless of vengence), I see no reason to begrudge him a great career step.
The CEO has an obligation if they invested in the company knowing he would be CEO, ergo they invested in him
Dang I was hoping Chris wouldn’t be replaced so fast!
I was going to have Puppet Tom run for MySpace CEO.
http://www.mysp....com/puppet_tom
Oh well. Best of luck to Chris.
I just checked out MySpace and it does not look so clunky.. Can this be a comeback?
I just read that Jeff Berman is a “dark horse” for the CEO role. Note to his PR flack who is leaking that absolute nonsense: Jon Miller is a friend of Ross Levinsohn’s and it is well known to all insiders that Berman stabbed everyone at the top level (including Ross and Peter Levinsohn AND Michael Barrett) in the back at every turn to get his fake title. Look at the numbers since he took over and they speak volumes.
where did you read that? I’d heard recently as well that Berman was gunning for the CEO position, but other sources suggested that the friction between him and DeWolfe was around other issues. Whatever, he’d certainly be able to run that company, but from what we’re hearing an announcement of Van Natta is coming as soon as the ink is dry on the contract.
I will be very surprised if the new CEO is a current Myspace executive. Berman is a longshot. It has been the same old Myspace players since the days of eUniverse.
I have a feeling Murdoch / Fox interactive will select some new blood because that is probably what the company needs. Is it too late though? I do not know but one thing is for sure. Their interface is antiquated.
Not sure Myspace can be fixed. Their chances are as high as MSN overthrowning Google as the top search engine.
I am sure any of these gentlemen are capable of running Myspace. Big question is can they monetize and keep up with Facebook/Twitter.
They tried Myspace video and it didnt go as well as Youtube. Next up: Hulu. Brilliant site and was not connected to Myspace branding wise even though it was Newscorp related property. I wonder why? Perhaps they knew the Myspace brand name did not fit what Hulu was about.
Not sure about if the execs can stop the bleeding. We are talking total revamp here. People know Facebook is just better, cleaner and more userfriendly. Hiring a new exec is a good idea but I think it came too late. The root of the problem was when they made the Google deals and the exec compensation deals / contracts when Newscorp acquired Intermix.
Was a good run for Myspace. When was the last time Techcrunch wrote about Friendster? They are in the same boat even though they still have numbers. These numbers are deteriorating.
Regards,
Constantine from Music.us
.MUSIC domain extension
It was on CNET and fast company. Why do you think Berman could run the business? Who do you think was running the business while DeWolfe was traveling, golfing, partying, cocktailing at the Soho house at 3pm est? Berman and he blew it. Berman is good at politics and he picked the wrong candidate for the long haul. I predict boxes will be arriving at his office shortly after new CEO is announced. And his “Angels” should be removed shortly thereafter.
Screw the whole “bad form” and character bull shat. He is doing what high level executives in every other industry do…take the best available job.
Look at the leading companies in any other industry and you’ll see that most have executive teams that have worked for competitors.
Good for Van Natta, it sounds like a perfect fit to me.
pure speculation….just yesterday Calacanis topped your list….
lol. the list was in alphabetical order.
haha pwned.
and as i commented yesterday, in any order calacanis and garlinghouse are jokes for this gig.
my money is on jeff berman.
The only reason Garlinghouse was ever mentioned is because Arrington still owes him a debt for his constant self-promoting leaks while at Yahoo. He’s a talentless douche, though, so MySpace…maybe there’s a fit there.
Seems to me like this guys covering all of his bets. He takes a big salary and options from mySpace (Public market for his stock) and still owns stock in FB so will gain from their exit at some point as well. Cudos!
He takes a big salary and options from mySpace (Public market for his stock) and still owns stock in FB so will gain from their exit at some point as well. Cudos!
Can we get a betting line on these potential CEO candidates???
Kinda like the money line on Twiiter getting acquired or staying private???
We have a question about exactly this topic on Predictify. Make your prediction about who will be the next CEO of MySpace: http://www.pred...fy.com/q/139217
This time around MySpace WILL buy playlist.com as part of the deal. It’s the only way Owen leaves.
And do what with Playlist.com ?
They have enough problems with the labels complaining that their deals with Myspace Music are not as lucrative as they thought they were.
Streaming music relying on merely revshare in ads does not work for the labels/publishers. Not enough ad revenue to compensate them.
Ask Susan Boyle and ITV. Her video was played 100 million times on Youtube. Guess how much ITV made? ZERO dollars.
They need to fix Myspace Music before thinking about acquiring Playlist.com. Not sure I would invest in a company that was sued by the RIAA for violating copyright. Their intention was to violate copyrights and get numbers and they succeeded and now they want to get paid for the eyeballs? At least the Twitters and the Facebooks got mass appeal by offering users a great product/service. The Youtubes/Playlists and other infringing sites can not claim the same.
You buy Playlist.com, you inherit the history. Ask BestBuy with Napster. How is Napster doing now?
Regards,
Constantine from Music.us
.MUSIC domain extension
Buy it and do nothing with it. Transfer some people over to the Myspace group. Just a way so Owen and and the gang there can cash out a bit on Playlist and he can say he didn’t leave Playlist after just a few months.
Anyshit, we’ll see what happens…
Btw, did you know “anyshit” is the new “anyways”?
Anyshit, we’ll see what happens…
I suppose it does look bad from the outside – that is unless one of his orders of business will be to acquire Playlist.
Poor form? The man gave Playlist.com a 6-month go in a terrible economy without gaining much traction. Would you rather have him ride in the balloon until it popped, Arrington?
One of the first things he should do is to pull the plug on Myspace China.
I’m hearing that Jeff Berman is now being considered. How is promoting him yet again going to solve anything for this company?
MySpace Facelift –
Why Van Natta must matta:
http://bit.ly/f2HzQ
5 minutes ago a note was released announcing that OVN is new MySpace’s CEO, how long it will take to TC to report it?
How could DeWolfe get fired from a company he co-founded? I like Chris
Eh, not all executives “take the best available job”.
Character does mean a little something, and this guy seems like a gypsy as far as jobs go. I wouldn’t lean all of my businesses’ success on this guy based on that track record, that’s for sure.
Riddle me this, Mr Arrington: According to your morality play, wouldn’t it be worse if Van Natta had been the Founder of Playlist and not just a hired gun before he quickly left? Isn’t that what your friend (and mine) Mike Jones is strongly rumored (by you) to be doing? If so, then why have you singled out Van Natta for such harsh criticism while Mike gets nothing but love?
Mike’s a great guy and entrepreneur. If the MySpace rumor is true, there’s nothing wrong with him leaving his recent venture for that big opportunity.
I don’t know Van Natta, except for a small amount of interaction on a deal with Amazon during the bubble. But on the face of it, his move to MySpace does not appear to warrant the hostility that it is receiving on this site.
Who exactly is settling an old score here??