MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe is stepping down as chief executive of the social network, MySpace owner News Corp said on Wednesday.
News Corp’s new chief digital officer Jonathan Miller said that “by mutual agreement, Mr DeWolfe will not be renewing his contract and will be stepping down in the near future.”
In a statement, News Corp also said that Miller was “in discussions” with MySpace president Tom Anderson to have him “assuming a new role in the organization.”
News Corp said that DeWolfe would continue to serve on the board of MySpace China and be a strategic adviser to the company.
“In a little under six years we’ve grown MySpace from a small operation with seven people to a very profitable business with over 1,600 employees,” DeWolfe said. “It’s been one of the best experiences of my life and we’re proud of, and grateful to, the team of talented people who helped us along the way.”
Anderson and DeWolfe are credited with creating MySpace, which launched in 2003 and was bought by News Corp in 2005 for US$580 million.
Miller called Anderson and DeWolfe “true pioneers” and credited them with building MySpace into a “vibrant creative community” with 130 million followers worldwide.
Miller said a new management structure for MySpace would be announced “in the near future.”
Rumors that DeWolfe and Anderson would be dethroned began circulating earlier this year as MySpace logged a drop in the number of users while its young rival Facebook posted gains.
Facebook replaced MySpace last year as the world’s most popular social-networking Web site and industry figures show Facebook has been widening its lead. Facebook welcomed its 200 millionth user last week.
US software giant Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook in 2007 for US$240 million, valuing the social network on paper at US$15 billion.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS