Beverly Hills

Exclusive: Randi Zuckerberg Leaves Facebook to Start New Social Media Firm (Resignation Letter)

Kara Swisher in News on August 3, 2011 at 1:23 pm PT

Randi Zuckerberg, who is director of marketing at Facebook and also the sister of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg — is leaving the company. IMHO, Facebook just got 100 percent less fun.

Myspace Bake-Off Starts Wednesday and–Despite Reports–No Bidder in Lead (and No Zynga Interest Either)

Kara Swisher in News on April 4, 2011 at 6:21 am PT

While no one inside or outside Myspace owner News Corp. expects fireworks and giant piles of money, the tire-kicking for the long-troubled social-networking-turned-entertainment site actually starts Wednesday. That’s when about a dozen interested parties will finally get a walk-through of the books and more by management and the serious talks begin. But, said several sources, despite a variety of reports of various interested buyers, no deal is imminent with any one of them.

Myspace Plans to Lay Off 550 to 600 Employees Tomorrow

Liz Gannes in Social on January 10, 2011 at 3:00 am PT

Myspace is finalizing plans to lay off 550 to 600 of its staff of 1,000 tomorrow, as its parent, News Corp., looks for a buyer.

Myspace Mulls Significant Layoffs, With Potential Sale Looming

Liz Gannes in Social on December 31, 2010 at 1:34 am PT

Myspace–the long-troubled social networking site turned social entertainment hub–is in the midst of planning that could soon result in significant layoffs of its staff, according to multiple sources. The cost-cutting comes against a backdrop of a possible sale of the News Corp.-owned unit.

As BoomTown Said: Partovi Brothers Finally Leave MySpace (Here Are the Internal Memos)

Kara Swisher in News on April 20, 2010 at 5:22 pm PT

Well-known tech entrepreneurs and twin brothers Ali and Hadi Partovi are leaving MySpace, in a high-profile departure for the struggling social networking company. Internal memos were sent around to staff this afternoon about the departure, said sources, which you can see after the jump. The fate of the well-known tech wunderkinds has been one of the more interesting guessing games of late at MySpace. MySpace execs have been keenly interested in avoiding the appearance that the company is in the grip of a talent drain, especially related to such high-profile innovators.

MySpace Musical Chairs: Will the Partovis Stay or Will They Go Now?

Kara Swisher in News on March 11, 2010 at 11:11 pm PT

While there have surely been a lot of departures of talent at MySpace over the last year–including two major shifts in top management–one of the more interesting guessing games of late concerning the social networking company has been over the fate of well-known tech wunderkinds Hadi and Ali Partovi. According to many sources inside and outside MySpace, that’s just the discussion the pair of serial entrepreneurs has been having with the company’s newest leaders. How it turns out, though, is unclear.

Video Tour of Redesign: Back to the Future at MySpace? Or Just Another Retread?

Kara Swisher in News on March 10, 2010 at 5:19 am PT

Earlier this week, BoomTown visited MySpace HQ in Beverly Hills, Calif., to interview its new co-presidents, Michael Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, and get a look-see at its evolving revival plans to stop the social networking ship from sinking further. Thus, I did a video tour of a storyboard-like room at MySpace, where the team is trying to formulate the “discover and be discovered” motto it is now using, which is pretty much its old motto restated. Can the old become new again?

Video: New MySpace Co-Presidents Hirschhorn and Jones Talk About the Past (Troubled!), Present (Work in Progress) and Future (Revival?)

Kara Swisher in News on March 9, 2010 at 4:24 pm PT

On Monday, BoomTown traveled to Los Angeles for the day to finally check in with the new management at turmoil-plagued MySpace, Co-Presidents Jason Hirschhorn and Michael Jones. The unlikely pair are now ferreting away on a slow rollout of a plan to turn MySpace into a socially-charged music and entertainment hub. Here’s a video where they talk about it all, from corporate intrigue to what to do about declining traffic to–most of all and what unfortunately gets lost in all this mess–what the heck they are doing to innovate the product.

Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Gets Conditional Thumbs Up From DOJ (Plus D7 Video With TKTM CEO Azoff)

Kara Swisher in News on January 25, 2010 at 4:46 pm PT

While many thought it would not sail through regulatory scrutiny easily, and it has taken a year, the merger of two entertainment industry giants–Ticketmaster and Live Nation–can go forward as long as a certain set of conditions is met, the Department of Justice said. And while DOJ’s antitrust head, Christine Varney, told reporters today that she warned the two companies that the federal government was prepared to litigate if necessary, it–well–did not. Now, the combined company will be able to do everything from selling tickets to booking artists to selling their T-shirts and more. Does this concentration of power mean ticket prices will go up for consumers?

Take That E!: Facebook Invades the Golden Globes–The Scandalous Video!

Kara Swisher in News on January 17, 2010 at 11:59 pm PT

Who says Facebook can’t be an online content company too? Not the passel of folks from the social networking behemoth, who plucked, primped and transformed themselves into a pack of glamorous nerds to hit the red carpet at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills earlier tonight. In other words: Silicon Valley meets Silicone Valley!