Aber Whitcomb

Is There a Myspace Mafia, Too? Because Leaving Seems to Have Paid Off for Many Ex-Execs.

Kara Swisher in Social on June 13, 2011 at 11:28 am PT

When the selling of Myspace winds down in the next week or so, it’ll probably attract a spate of comments about what a failure the whole social networking enterprise turned out to be. That is, unless you think of the mob of former execs who have worked at the company over time, many of whom have moved on to some more golden opportunities after leaving Myspace.

I/O Ventures Returns to Train Second Class of Start-Ups

Liz Gannes in Social on January 20, 2011 at 10:14 am PT

With a swarm of start-up accelerators in the mold of Y Combinator all hitting the tech scene last year, it’s inevitable that some will fall by the wayside. But I/O Ventures, based in San Francisco’s Mission District, will be back for another season, co-founder Paul Bragiel tells NetworkEffect.

MySpace: After the Layoffs, Here's What's What and What's Next

Kara Swisher in News on June 17, 2009 at 5:30 am PT

Now what? The party-all-night social-networking site that has been MySpace so far got a massive morning-after shock yesterday when 30 percent of its workforce was laid off. And today, MySpace, which is still 1,000-strong, has to face the cold, harsh light of day in the aftermath of the restructuring and get busy quickly figuring out a way to reinvigorate a brand that has suffered after a stunning rocket of a start many years ago. So, based on many sources I have spoken to over the last week, here’s a rundown of the next steps MySpace will likely be taking and who’ll be making them.

MySpace Musical Chairs: Jason Hirschhorn Also In as Chief Product Officer

Kara Swisher in News on April 27, 2009 at 9:09 am PT

MySpace has officially announced the appointment of entrepreneur and former AOL exec Mike Jones as COO, as BoomTown had reported earlier today. But the social-networking site also named former Sling Media top exec Jason Hirschhorn as chief product officer in what has become a series of senior management moves at MySpace. Both Hirschhorn and Jones will report to newly named CEO Owen Van Natta, the former COO of Facebook, who replaced MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe last week. Once the trio get their bearings, many sources indicate that News Corp., owner of MySpace, has given Van Natta and his key execs free reign to remake the unit from top to bottom.