Around this time last year we saw a stream of high ranking employees leaving Yahoo as the web portal reached new lows following the fumbled Microsoft deal. Now, we’re beginning to see a similar trend from MySpace, the once-shining social network that has been recently hit by stagnating growth, waves of layoffs (both in the US and abroad), and the ousting of its co-founder CEO. The latest member of the executive team to leave is SVP Engineering Allen Hurff, who annouced his decision to leave the company on Friday. A tweet he sent out that day confirms his departure.
Hurff was with the company for over four years, where he and former SVP Operations Jim Benedetto were largely reponsible for building up MySpace’s technology team (Benedetto left the company in March). Hurff also played an integral role in MySpace’s adoption of OpenSocial, serving as Chairman of the foundation. The OpenSocial platform, which allows for the integration of third party applications in MySpace, will likely play a key role in the site’s success moving forward, so this is a big loss for the social network.
Other key MySpace execs to leave in the last few months include CEO/Co-Founder Chris DeWolfe; E.J. Hilbert, MySpace’s Director of Security Enforcement; Amit Kapur, COO; and Steve Pearman, SVP Product Strategy. Kapur, Pearman, and Benedetto have teamed up to launch Blue Rover Labs, a still-mysterious venture funded startup.
