MySpace CEO Van Natta Steps Down
LOS ANGELES (
) --
MySpace
CEO Owen Van Natta is stepping down, having spent less than a year at the
News Corp.
(NWS) - Get Report
unit.
Van Natta will be replaced by co-Presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn. The three joined MySpace, the social networking site, in April 2009.
"Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalize MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work," said Jon Miller, News Corp.'s chairman and CEO of Digital Media, in a statement late Wednesday. "However, in talking to Owen about his priorities both personally and professionally going forward, we both agreed that it was best for him to step down at this time. I want to thank Owen for all of his efforts."
The
Associated Press
reports Van Natta continued to commute to MySpace's Los Angeles headquarters from his home in Palo Alto in northern California, although that wasn't cited specifically as a reason for his leaving.
Van Natta is the former chief operating officer of
.
MySpace trimmed its work force by about 40% while Van Natta served as CEO. The site has been losing visitors to rivals such as Facebook and has looked to transform itself into a site more for music and entertainment.
Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp. , said last week MySpace's turnaround is "not yet where we want it,"
AP
reports. News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005.
-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
Follow TheStreet.com on
and become a fan on