Yahoo’s embattled CEO Scott Thompson (pictured here) is set to step down from his job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in what will be dramatic end to a controversy over a fake computer science degree that he had on his bio, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

The pair will apparently say he is departing for “personal reasons.” Sources said that Thompson will be claiming to be leaving due to a serious illness that he recently discovered he had.

But the evolving crisis — which is just over a week old — centered on his botched resume and how he handled the thorny issue is the key reason for the abrupt end to his tenure as a CEO.

Thompson’s likely replacement on an interim basis will be Yahoo’s global media head Ross Levinsohn, who most recently also ran its Americas unit, including its advertising sales.

In addition to the management upheaval, Yahoo’s board is closing in on a settlement with the man who discovered Thompson’s misstep, activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point, said sources.

The situation could change, since Yahoo’s full board still has to meet this morning to officially approve the sweeping changes at the long-troubled company.

But, if it is, this development goes a long way toward fixing some of what has been ailing Yahoo recently.

And it’ll also be a stunning victory for Loeb (pictured here), since the pugnacious hedge fund investor is set to get three board seats from a slate proposed by him as part of a proxy fight aimed at Yahoo. The new Yahoo directors will be media exec Michael Wolf and turnaround specialist Harry Wilson. Loeb’s fourth selection — former NBC head Jeff Zucker — will withdraw.

The five current Yahoo directors — who were to step down at the company’s annual meeting this summer — will leave the board effective immediately, sources said, to make way for the Third Point selections.

Finally, Yahoo’s recently added director Fred Amoroso will be named chairman of the board.

Amoroso is the director who has been conducting the investigation into the issues raised by Loeb about how the fake academic credentials got in Thompson’s public bios, as well as in Yahoo’s regulatory filings, and also the hurried circumstances around his hiring in January.

Those mysteries — read, screw-ups — might never be solved now, although Thompson made a convoluted attempt to explain it all in two awkward employee meetings at the end of last week. In those gatherings, according to numerous sources, he blamed a headhunting firm for introducing the mistake when he was being hired for a job at eBay in the mid-2000 timeframe.

That company, Heidrick and Struggles, slapped back last week with an internal memo, noting that Thompson’s claim was “verifiably not true.” Sources said that Heidrick told Yahoo’s board that it was in possession of a resume that Thompson had apparently submitted showing the inaccurate CS degree on it.

That memo, impugning Thompson’s credibility, was one of many that piled on to create an impossible situation for the Yahoo board, related to his leadership ability going forward.

Thompson had also previously issued a Yahoo statement, in which he apologized for the “distraction” caused by the problematic resume, but not for the mistake itself.

And, initially, Yahoo — under his direction — had called the borked resume an “inadvertent error.”

Such fumbling to fix the situation was among the many other issues that the board has been considering relating the ability of Thompson to remain in his job. Also of importance was the sinking morale of Yahoo employees, who had largely rejected Thompson’s excuses in the ResuMess scandal.

Internal message boards at Yahoo lit up all last week, with staffers largely rejecting his explanations. In addition, a number of top execs and engineers approached the board calling for Thompson’s firing.

While that’s not precisely what happened here, it’s close enough to describe Thompson’s departure as inevitable.

All this change comes in the wake of a massive restructuring he was in the midst of at Yahoo, after 2,000 employee layoffs.

Thompson was pushing forward a vision of adding a much more significant data and commerce element to Yahoo’s largely ad-based business.

That is likely to be less stressed under media-focused Levinsohn, who will be essentially trying out to be the permanent CEO.

Well known in the media and advertising communities, he has worked at a number of big online efforts over many years.

According to his bio at Yahoo, where he arrived in 2010:

He previously served as the President of News Corporation’s Fox Interactive Media, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations, strategy and acquisitions that helped transformed the company into a leader in digital media. He also held senior management positions with AltaVista, an early pioneer and leader in search, CBS Sportsline where he oversaw all content and development for the top rated sports site, and HBO where he launched and oversaw a unit developing new programming and revenue streams. Levinsohn also was the co-founder and managing director of Fuse Capital, an investment and strategic equity management firm focused on investing in and building digital media and communications companies.

Levinsohn sits on the board of Freedom Communications and the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The American University.

So far in my checking, Levinsohn’s resume is accurate.

More to come, obviously.

I have emails and texts and calls into everyone for comment, but apparently they are all out at a Mother’s Day brunch (except me).

RELATED POSTS:

• Yahoo’s Parting With Thompson Will Be for “Cause” (a.k.a. CSLie)
• Ross Levinsohn’s Yahoo Plan: Back to the Future
• Here’s New Yahoo CEO’s First Note to Troops! (The Leaking-Internal-Memos-to-ATD Policy Remains in Effect As Usual)
• Yahoo Officially Confirms ATD Report on CEO Changes and Proxy Settlement
• Meet the Man I Call “The Hair”: The Video Stylings of Yahoo’s Newest CEO Ross Levinsohn
• Will Thompson’s Ouster Mean a Yahoo-Facebook Patent Settlement Too?
• Exclusive: Yahoo’s Thompson Out; Levinsohn In; Board Settlement With Loeb Nears Completion
• Heidrick & Struggles Slaps Back at Thompson’s Yahoo in Blame Game Over ResuMess
• Is He In or Is He Out? Crunchtime for Scott Thompson at Yahoo.
• Not So Scott Free? Yahoo’s Other Big Shareholder — Cap Re — Leaning Toward Supporting Loeb Over Thompson ResuMess.
• Tech Nation’s Gunn Says She and Yahoo CEO Discussed Their CS Degrees Before 2009 Show (Video and Audio)
• Loeb Calls Again for Thompson Firing From Yahoo, as Former eBay Boss Supports Him
• Place Your Bets: Will Loeb Drop Another Bomb on Yahoo at Vegas Confab Later Today?
• Exclusive: Yahoo Director in Charge of Botched CEO Vetting to Step Down From Board
• CEO Says Sorry to Yahoos for Borked Bio “Distraction” — But Will Mea Culpa Work Without an Apology for Error? (Memo)
• Buffett Comments on Trust Issue in Yahoo CEO BioGate: “You’ve Got a Problem”
• Loeb Lobs Lawsuit, as Expected, at Yahoo’s Borked Bio Mess
• As Yahoo CEO Reaches Out to Top Staff, Board Meets to Weigh “Options” (I.E., Deciding Who Gets to Take the Borked Bio Blame)
• Yahoo Should Expect Incoming Lawsuit Lobbed by Loeb Tomorrow on CEO Hiring
• They Shoot Yahoo CEOs, Don’t They? But Not Without a Really Smoking Gun and a Much Stronger Board.
• Yahoo’s Thompson Asks Employees to “Stay Focused” — Except Not on Him
• In 2009 Interview, Yahoo CEO Does Not Deny He Has a CS Degree, and Calls Himself an “Engineer” (Audio)
• Yahoo’s Board Will “Review” Resume Discrepancy of CEO
• How Did a Phantom CS Degree Get on CEO’s Bio in SEC Filings? Yahoo’s Not Saying.
• Yahoo’s Response on CEO’s Computer Science ResumeGate: “Inadvertent Error”
• Dan Loeb Alleges “Discrepancies” on Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s Resume Related to Computer Science Degree

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.

And — especially when you recall what a Web phenom the social networking site was before it got blown out of the water by Facebook — it was.

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 the News Corp.-owned property.

That includes, most recently and notably, former sales head Michael Barrett, who is about to score big as CEO of AdMeld, which is reportedly in the process of selling to Google for $400 million.

Also a big winner: Former Myspace CEO Owen Van Natta, who was fired from that job in one of its many putsches and who quickly rebounded to a top job at online gaming powerhouse Zynga.

So, while it is one of the more overused memes of Silicon Valley, the “mafia” analogy — which has been applied to fertile entrepreneurial breeding grounds such as PayPal, before its acquisition by eBay — is useful when thinking about Myspace.

It is also a good thing to keep in mind about any tech company that goes off the rails: There might still be a silver lining, even if the start-up never sees the light of day again.

As proof, herein is a list I created after pinging a bunch of former Myspace folks:

Jason Oberfest: Former SVP of business development. Now, VP Ngmoco, which was sold to Japanese gaming giant DeNA for $400 million last year.

Dmitry Shapiro: Former CTO, Myspace Music. Now, at Facebook competitor Altly.

Adam Bain: While at Fox Interactive Media, he ran the ad platform for Myspace. Now, head of sales at Twitter.

Jeff Berman: Former president of sales and marketing. Now, GM of the NFL’s digital media unit.

Jason Hirschhorn: Former co-president and chief product officer. Now, on MGM board, angel investor, and there are rumors of him working on a curation start-up.

Amit Kapur: Former COO. Now, CEO, Gravity, an information filtering service start-up.

Chris DeWolfe: Co-founder and former CEO. Now, CEO, MindJolt, an online gaming roll-up.

Ross Levinsohn: Former president of FIM, he was integral to buying Myspace. Now, EVP of Americas unit, Yahoo.

Mike Lang: Former News Corp. strategy exec also involved in Myspace purchase. Now, CEO, Miramax.

Aber Whitcomb: Former CTO. Now CTO, MindJolt.

Jim Heckman: Former chief strategy officer of FIM. Now, CEO of 5to1, recently sold to Yahoo for $25 million.

Dani Dudeck: Former communications head. Now, PR head at Zynga.

Travis Katz: SVP of international. Now, CEO of Gogobot, a social travel start-up.

Richard Rosenblatt: Former CEO of Intermix Media and Chairman of Myspace, he sold it to News Corp. Now, CEO of Demand Media.

Angela Courtin: Former SVP of marketing. Now, EVP at Aegis Media.

These folks should be on the call list of whoever ends up buying Myspace. Last week, I wrote that an investor group, including Activision head Bobby Kotick, is now in the lead for the deal.

As an update, according to sources, Kotick has gotten clearance from Activision’s major shareholder Vivendi to do the Myspace transaction as a passive personal investment.

Last week, Yahoo’s advertising unit got the once-over from its new sales head Wayne Powers. And, this week, its new Audience unit head Mickie Rosen is making a series of executives moves.

First up, sources said that the current head of its powerful Yahoo News, Mark Walker, will be leaving for another another company and a new head of the news site is close to being hired.

Already hired is top Time Warner digital exec Ken Fuchs, who will now run Yahoo’s huge sports, games and entertainment sites. He ran all digital distribution at Time Inc. Digital, overseeing emerging platforms for more than two dozen Web properties. Before that, he also ran Sports Illustrated’s online site and, previous to that, worked in strategy and development for Fox Interactive Media.

And Associated Content head Luke Beatty will be adding a lot to his portfolio, now running the Americas region community and local businesses, including Flickr, Groups, Answers and hundreds of local sites.

Yahoo’s current local head Matt Idema, sources said, will likely be leaving the company.

Lastly, Erin McPherson will be running all of the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s much dispersed video offerings, branded and original entertainment, across the Americas region.

In related news, Matthew Rothenberg, product head at Flickr, said in a blog post that he was leaving the company.

Yahoo declined to comment on the moves.

Steele is a longtime marketing exec with previous stints at the video ad start-up Tremor Media and Coca-Cola. She comes to Twitter at a time when the company is finally focusing on turning its service into a business. Twitter is expected to have about $100 million in revenue in 2011. It was valued at $3.7 billion in its most recent funding round, and well above that in off-and-on acquisition talks with Facebook and Google.

Steele’s Twitter account is here. Appropriately, we first learned of the news on Twitter, from Advertising Age editor Michael Learmonth. A spokesperson for Twitter confirmed the hire this afternoon.

It’s not all departures!

Yahoo is hiring former News Corp. and Disney online exec Mickie Rosen (pictured here) to run its Audience unit, which includes the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s powerful content sites, sources said.

Starting next week, Rosen will report to Americas head Ross Levinsohn, who has worked with her before, at both News Corp. and Fuse Capital.

Her new title is SVP of the Yahoo Media Network, which is apparently a rebranding of Audience.

Previous to this job, Rosen was CEO of Tecca, a price-checking service Fuse created in partnership with Best Buy.

It’s likely she will remain based in the Los Angeles area, where Yahoo has a large office in Santa Monica, Calif.

The move is Levinsohn’s first management rejiggering since he took over last year, and there is likely to be more to come.

Rosen, who has also worked at the Fandango online movie ticketing site, will replace interim audience head Raymond Stern, who will be–as before–running partnerships and business development, as well as Yahoo’s listings business.

Rosen’s new job had actually been that of former Audience head David Ko, as well as former Media VP Jimmy Pitaro.

Ko left Yahoo and is now heading mobile games at Zynga, while Pitaro is a top digital exec at Disney.

More to come from Levinsohn, but here is Rosen’s bio from the Fuse Web site:

Mickie has over 20 years of operating, strategy and investing experience. For the past dozen years, she has been at the intersection of media and technology, in both large companies such as News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company and in small, early stage start-ups.

Prior to joining the firm, she was the head of entertainment for Fox Interactive Media where she was responsible for properties such as AmericanIdol.com, Rotten Tomatoes and the entertainment channels of MySpace. Mickie also led content acquisition across the Company, and was a lead in envisioning, structuring and negotiating Hulu, the premier video joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal.

Prior to Fox Interactive Media, Mickie was the head of product development, marketing and public relations for Fandango, where she helped lead the company from an early-stage start-up to profitability as it became a leader in its space (acquired by Comcast). Mickie was also a senior executive with an e-learning start-up, an Idealab! consumer robotics company and Disney’s Corporate Alliances group, where she negotiated deals and managed Disney’s top global partners such as Coca-Cola, American Express and AT&T.

Mickie built the foundation of her career with McKinsey & Company, where she spent seven years consulting with senior management on strategy, operational and organizational issues across a number of industries, including media and technology.
Mickie has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in Economics from UC San Diego, and is based in Los Angeles.

He’s baaaaaack.

Former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn, that is, who is the top candidate to replace Hilary Schneider as Yahoo’s North American head, according to several sources close to the situation.

While the deal is not completely struck, sources said Levinsohn is very close to taking the job.

Sources added, if he does, he is likely to remain living in Los Angeles, where he has long been located. Yahoo has a large facility in Santa Monica.

The move is a bold one for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who desperately needs to bring in major Internet talent to the company to shore up her worrisome inexperience in the space.

Yahoo has been rocked by management turmoil–especially in the media and advertising unit–and also troubling weakness in revenue growth and innovative spark.

Levinsohn, one of the more colorful of Web personalities, certainly has a spark.

Levinsohn is currently an investor at Fuse Capital, which funds digital media and communications start-ups.

But sources said he has been itching to get back at a big company with scale in the digital media business and has been interested in Yahoo for some months.

At Yahoo, presumably, he will have purview over what Schneider did (and perhaps more), including the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s powerful media properties and its large advertising sales force in the U.S..

It’s likely Yahoo will hire a major ad sales exec to work under Levinsohn, and sources said the company has been in contact with several prominent execs to fill the slot left open with the March departure of Joanne Bradford to Demand Media.

Besides Schneider, also among the recent departures in the unit Levinsohn would run: VP of Media Jimmy Pitaro, who went to Disney, and U.S. Audience head David Ko, who moved to social gaming phenom Zynga.

Until now, Levinsohn is best known for his stint running digital operations for News Corp.’s then FIM unit.

It was at FIM that he rose to prominence after he bought MySpace, the social networking site that was once the hottest property on the Web.

At the time, Levinsohn and other execs also struck a gigantically lucrative advertising search deal with Google that garnered MySpace huge revenues.

After leaving News Corp. after repeated clashes with MySpace Co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe, he partnered with former AOL CEO Jon Miller in another investment company, Velocity Capital.

Ironically, both Miller and Levinsohn were the top choice of billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn as the execs he wanted to run Yahoo when he was agitating for change there a few years back in the midst of the failed takeover attempt by Microsoft.

When reached today, Miller–who now is the Chief Digital Officer of News Corp.–declined to comment on his former associate’s job prospects.

But he said: “If Yahoo is so lucky to get Ross, it would be great, because he is one of few people who understands all media.”

Indeed, although Levinsohn is better known as a dealmaker and media exec than as a sales expert, although he did manage digital advertising properties at FIM.

Previous to FIM, Levinsohn ran Fox Sports Interactive Media. He has also worked at the AltaVista Network, an early search pioneer, CBS Sportsline and Time Warner’s pay cable giant HBO. In addition, according to his bio at Fuse.

He also worked at Saatchi and Saatchi and in sports management and marketing with ProServ and Lapin and Rose Communications.

Yahoo declined to comment about the possible appointment of Levinsohn.

(And let’s hope Yahoo–especially the hip-shooting Bartz–doesn’t announce his arrival by also unfairly kicking former execs in the media and advertising unit in the teeth, as has been cloddishly done already too many times.)

BoomTown has also contacted Levinsohn via email and phone and has not heard back from the typically voluble exec.

But you can enjoy his stylings here, in a video interview I did with him in 2007:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101026/exclusive-yahoo-courts-former-news-corp-digital-exec-ross-levinsohn-as-u-s-head/feed/ 8 http://allthingsd.com/20090928/this-just-in-youtube-is-ginormous/ http://allthingsd.com/20090928/this-just-in-youtube-is-ginormous/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:02:31 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=11471 You already know this, but it’s always good to be reminded: In online video, there’s YouTube, and then there’s everybody else. Today’s data point: ComScore’s (SCOR) August video report, which shows Google’s video site generating 10 billion views and owning 39.6 percent of the market.

That’s 10 billion views, and that’s just counting Web surfers from the U.S. Factor in international visitors and…it would be a lot bigger.

The rest of the rankings look about the same as they as they always do–puny compared to Google’s (GOOG) status. That is, if you add up the next nine biggest sites, they won’t come close to matching YouTube’s share. But for the record, Hulu gained share but lost a position to Fox Interactive Media/MySpace, its corporate cousin from News Corp (NWS). And Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL replaced Disney’s (DIS) ABC at the bottom of the rankings. Click table to enlarge:

Yet another reason it’s amazing that it took Warner Music Group nine months to hammer out a deal to get its video back on YouTube–and bear in mind that they’re not there yet. If you’re in the music video business and you pull your videos off the world’s biggest video site, you had better have a very good reason for doing so.

In other shocking news: This movie is 12 years old. That’s older than Google!

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090928/this-just-in-youtube-is-ginormous/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090710/digital-musical-chairs-at-myspace-and-fim-keeps-going-and-going-and-going/ http://allthingsd.com/20090710/digital-musical-chairs-at-myspace-and-fim-keeps-going-and-going-and-going/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:23:00 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=15662 As BoomTown previously reported, there have been a lot of exec moves at Fox Interactive Media and its MySpace unit, which seem to be continuing.

Especially departures, it seems, as the massive restructuring of the digital units of News Corp. (NWS) keeps shaking out.

Top engineer Max Engel (pictured here), who ran the social networking site’s open initiatives, for example, is leaving to join the new stealth start-up being helmed by ex-MySpace employees, including former COO Amit Kapur.

In a blog post on his Web site yesterday, titled “Farewell, MySpace…,” Engel did not say where he was headed, but noted:

“While MySpace presented opportunities through their scale and reach, I’ve spent the past 3 years at large companies, and now I’m ready to go small and give the startup life a try.”

In addition, while I was poking around on this story, sources also told me that there are more higher-level departures in the works, including those whom the new team of execs at Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace had kept in place, despite a recent round of layoffs.

Those execs include Tom Andrus (pictured here), who was a key product exec in the last regime at MySpace, sources said, but is poised to go. His former charge was as SVP of product management under MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson.

While Anderson remains at MySpace, his role has been changed and product is now headed by Jason Hirschhorn, and Andrus reportedly decided recently that he did not want to stay at the company in a lesser role.

Andrus is also listed as a developer at Gray Ghost Ventures on LinkedIn.

In the longer term, sources said it is also likely that once he completes the work to downsize MySpace’s international operations–which were cut drastically–its head, Travis Katz (pictured here), will move on in the fall.

While some thought he would leave during MySpace’s international layoffs several weeks ago, he did not, given all the work involved in closing down a lot of operations there after 67 percent the staff abroad was cut.

Katz, sources said, is preparing to move to California in the next several weeks and is interested in working for a start-up, after many years at News Corp.

Lastly, on the goodbye train, is MySpace Music’s SVP Strategy and Global Marketing, Jamie Kantrowitz (pictured here).

She had previously worked as a top exec in MySpace’s international business.

Not everyone is bidding adieu, though, although they are moving chairs.

Dan Fawcett (pictured here), president of Fox Digital Media, is likely to be moving to work with News Corp. digital head Jon Miller as his general counsel and right-hand man at the Fox Interactive Media division.

The former GC, Mike Angus, has moved to FIM’s Fox Audience Network, run by Adam Bain.

FIM, of course, is being rejiggered into a new smaller unit, as I previously reported, and is likely to be renamed simply the Digital Media Group.

(Full disclosure: FIM is owned by News Corp., which also owns Dow Jones–owner of this site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090710/digital-musical-chairs-at-myspace-and-fim-keeps-going-and-going-and-going/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20090630/new-atd-features-topic-pages-and-finding-jobs-no-not-steve/ http://allthingsd.com/20090630/new-atd-features-topic-pages-and-finding-jobs-no-not-steve/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:57:42 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=15244 Here at All Things Digital, we are always fussing away on our site, making a variety of improvements regularly to deliver a better experience to our readers.

In that vein, we have recently added two new features over the last few weeks, both of which deserve a look-see: Topic pages and job listings.

The first is our attempt to offer a new and easier way for the ATD audience to navigate specific information, by gathering in one place a selection of blogs, columns, videos and photos on the site, all related to a single popular topic, all without requiring a user to search via keywords.

The variety of our topic pages will grow over time. But right now we have special pages for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3GS, the Palm (PALM) Pre, the new Bing search service from Microsoft (MSFT) and news from Apple’s recent Worldwide Developers Conference.

Secondly, we’ve partnered with Simply Hired to offer paid job listings on AllThingsD.com, right from the front page. Starting this week, you’ll find Simply Hired widgets with current job opportunities on pages across our site, including here.

Recruiters can post jobs directly to the ATD jobs page, and these listings are also distributed to more than 5,000 partner sites in Simply Hired’s network, including GigaOM, Mashable and WashingtonPost.com.

(Full disclosure: Simply Hired, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., has raised some of its funding from the News Corp. (NWS) digital unit, Fox Interactive Media. News Corp. also owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090630/new-atd-features-topic-pages-and-finding-jobs-no-not-steve/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090629/jon-miller-owen-van-natta-full-d7-session/ http://allthingsd.com/20090629/jon-miller-owen-van-natta-full-d7-session/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:55:22 +0000 Kara Swisher http://d7.allthingsd.com/?p=2250

Over the last weeks, News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller and MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta have had their hands full directing massive layoffs at the flagship social-networking site, as well as throughout the Fox Interactive Media division.

The pair discussed the many challenges faced by the giant media company in its digital enterprises in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg and me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference last month.

That included everything from how News Corp. (NWS) online content is paid for to the need for MySpace to innovate, as Facebook has surpassed it.

Here’s the video of the full D7 session:

(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090629/jon-miller-owen-van-natta-full-d7-session/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090629/news-corp-chief-digital-officer-jon-miller-and-myspace-ceo-owen-van-natta-the-full-d7-session/ http://allthingsd.com/20090629/news-corp-chief-digital-officer-jon-miller-and-myspace-ceo-owen-van-natta-the-full-d7-session/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:53:14 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=15137

Over the last weeks, News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller and MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta have had their hands full directing massive layoffs at the flagship social-networking site, as well as throughout the Fox Interactive Media division.

The pair discussed the many challenges faced by the giant media company in its digital enterprises in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg and me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference last month.

That included everything from how News Corp. (NWS) online content is paid for to the need for MySpace to innovate, as Facebook has surpassed it.

Here’s the video of the full D7 session:

(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090629/news-corp-chief-digital-officer-jon-miller-and-myspace-ceo-owen-van-natta-the-full-d7-session/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090625/photobucket-layoffs-today-one-third-of-staff-let-go-other-fim-units-also-impacted/ http://allthingsd.com/20090625/photobucket-layoffs-today-one-third-of-staff-let-go-other-fim-units-also-impacted/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:19:20 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=15119

The layoffs at Fox Interactive Media moved on to Photobucket today, as one-third of its staff of about 120 were let go, sources close to the situation said.

The photo- and video-hosting service was bought for $250 million in mid-2007 by News Corp. (NWS).

A FIM spokesperson confirmed the layoffs after being contacted by BoomTown, but declined to give specific numbers. But sources told me a total of up to 75 people were fired.

“As part of our continuing review of each of the FIM business units, employees were informed of job cuts today at several of our sites. We made these cuts to ensure that our resources are aligned properly with our business goals, and at a scale that will enable us to operate as efficiently as possible,” said the FIM spokesperson.

It is all part of a series of job cuts that are now hitting FIM properties other than MySpace.

The social-networking site has seen massive layoffs over the last two weeks, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Photobucket was hardest kicked, with 35 people fired, while other properties, such as the IGN videogame and entertainment unit, had the other layoffs spread among them.

Cuts at IGN, for example, were minimal, and it was also hiring in other parts of its business.

FIM’s whole structure itself is undergoing a shift, along with a likely name change, as BoomTown previously reported.

(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090625/photobucket-layoffs-today-one-third-of-staff-let-go-other-fim-units-also-impacted/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090622/another-top-exec-gone-from-fim-as-it-readies-a-name-and-structure-change/ http://allthingsd.com/20090622/another-top-exec-gone-from-fim-as-it-readies-a-name-and-structure-change/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:00:58 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=14816

Mike Angus, EVP and General Counsel of Fox Interactive Media, is departing that job for another in New Corp. (NWS), as new digital head Jon Miller continues to reshape the division.

Last week, BoomTown reported that FIM CFO Ed McKenna was leaving his post and also the company, part of many changes taking place related to News Corp.’s digital properties. (News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

It’s all part of a major rejiggering of FIM, which came into being almost four years ago, although not an elimination of the unit, as has been reported.

More likely, it will include a name change–perhaps to the Digital Media Group–as well as a much streamlined organization that gives more autonomy to FIM’s Web, online advertising and publishing technology units.

The largest of those Internet sites in FIM is, of course, MySpace.

Since Miller arrived in the early spring, he has focused on fixing the troubled, but still huge, social-networking site.

He quickly replaced its co-founder and CEO, Chris DeWolfe, with new managers.

Those execs, led by former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta, have done massive layoffs at MySpace recently and are now beginning a major overhaul of its product, which needs to innovate after a fall-off of growth and engagement.

“In a lot of ways, FIM has become an artificial construct and a lot of the infrastructure it has created should be out in the individual businesses,” said one person close to the situation. “So, since it is not really an operating unit, it will be taken down to the minimal size to make it work.”

That apparently means it does not need a separate CFO or even a general counsel.

Currently, there are about 100 FIM-only employees, mostly in human resources, accounting and legal. Some of those will likely be farmed out to the units they primarily service or be let go if those units decide they do not need the staff.

The original idea of FIM was to create a unit to house most of News Corp.’s standalone digital units, including MySpace and IGN videogame and entertainment sites, and to have common financial, legal and even ad sales execs to serve them.

The concept is that they all had tech, legal, policy and synergistic reasons for being together.

Said a News Corp. press release from July 2005, which announced both the Angus and McKenna hires:

“News Corporation today announced the formation of Fox Interactive Media (FIM), a new unit that will leverage the strength of Fox’s distinctive entertainment, news and sports brands across the Internet to offer a richer online experience to its millions of users.”

That construct, said many people I interviewed inside and outside News Corp., was built to accommodate a much larger unit, with additional large acquisitions after the MySpace one.

Those never happened, although News Corp. was in many such talks with giants such as Yahoo (YHOO), Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL and Microsoft (MSFT) about trading assets.

“Over time, FIM became more like a shadow government,” said one person familiar with the situation. “Now, it makes sense for the properties to govern themselves, with a lot less meddling and let them rise and fall on their own.”

Many News Corp. sources point to the success of premium video service Hulu, which is run as a joint venture with GE (GE) unit NBC Universal, as being managed relatively autonomously by experienced Internet execs with less corporate involvement.

The result has been a popular and fast-growing site, which has gotten kudos for its innovative consumer offering (although it is still working on finding a highly lucrative business model).

Does that mean that some units, such as MySpace, could even be spun out again?

Doubtful for now, said several sources, but still a possibility.

In any case, the idea of a corporate layer over corporate units within a larger corporation does seem less than fleet in the faster-moving Web 2.0 world.

As to the new name of the unit, besides the chief digital officer title, Miller also was given the title of chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.

Therefore, several sources said that the units could be under a simpler and lighter Digital Media Group umbrella.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090622/another-top-exec-gone-from-fim-as-it-readies-a-name-and-structure-change/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090617/myspace-after-the-layoffs-heres-whats-what-and-whats-next/ http://allthingsd.com/20090617/myspace-after-the-layoffs-heres-whats-what-and-whats-next/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:30:13 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=14631

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–or 420 employees–was laid off.

And today, MySpace, which is still 1,000-strong, and its leaders have 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.

That’s especially true since a report also just came out by market research outfit comScore (SCOR) showing that Facebook has surpassed MySpace in the key U.S. market as the top social-networking site.

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.

MORE LAYOFFS?

“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” said new CEO Owen Van Natta in a statement about the layoffs.

What he did not say was that cost-cutting via layoffs is almost always the first move in a turnaround.

These cuts have actually been long in coming, but it’s promising that they finally happened so quickly after Van Natta–along with COO Michael Jones and Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn–were brought in by News Corp. (NWS) digital head Jon Miller to replace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe.

(News Corp. owns MySpace, as well as Dow Jones, which owns this site.)

“The layoffs were a total reset,” said one source, who noted that unless MySpace’s advertising business falls off a cliff, which it is unlikely to do in the short term, more cuts in the U.S. will not be needed for now. That might not be true internationally, where MySpace has not performed as strongly.

At this point, MySpace is now about the same size as chief rival Facebook’s staff, which has been growing much more quickly (you can see my video tour of its new Silicon Valley HQ here).

Except for not making the move to new offices in Los Angeles, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace is also not going to be closing offices elsewhere, as has been reported, most especially its San Francisco one.

In fact, Van Natta is traveling to visit all of them, his memo said, over the next several days.

LEADERSHIP

Despite the large number of layoffs and the departure of DeWolfe, most expect there to be very little change in the top ranks of MySpace leadership for the time being.

While Jeff Berman, MySpace’s president of sales and marketing, has been rumored to be on the bubble, multiple sources said he would be staying in his job.

He’ll continue to be aided by Angela Courtin, SVP of marketing, who is well-regarded.

The same is true of the other major question mark, co-founder Tom Anderson (pictured here), who has held the president title at the company and was in charge of its products.

Anderson does not have a new title yet and will no longer be in a key operational role, but many sources said his historical knowledge and his tight relationship with the MySpace community make it important that he remain at the company.

“Tom is clearly in touch with what has made MySpace special,” said one source. “And it is important that he remain to keep the culture alive.”

Also staying for now is Tom Andrus, who has been SVP of product management under Anderson and is now reporting to Hirschhorn. While initially upset by being supplanted so quickly by new execs, most sources told me that he is a solid and well-liked exec.

The same is said of Jason Oberfest, SVP of business development, who is also staying. So too, CTO Aber Whitcomb, whom many thought would be leaving.

The only major exec departure I could confirm was Fox Interactive Media CFO Ed McKenna, who was in charge of MySpace too. Sources said will be leaving the company as his function gets consolidated into higher corporate units at News Corp.

PRODUCT REHAUL

Lastly, most noted that MySpace cannot cut its way back to health, which is why sources said its execs are now beginning to engage in a major overhaul of the product itself.

While leadership had considered bringing in a separate new skunkworks-type team to do that, it has been decided that the current staff–helped by some outside consultants–will be doing a top-to-bottom redo of MySpace.

MySpace could use it. As you can see from the charts below from a poll that we did for the seventh D: All Things Digital conference recently–and where Walt Mossberg and I interviewed Van Natta and Miller onstage (see the highlights video below)–it has a lot to fix, including reengaging users, improving technology and differentiating itself from Facebook.

And, in fact, carving itself out as a different product than Facebook is one major aim because the offerings–while both are social networks–are quite different in approach. Facebook has evolved into more of a utility, while MySpace has made better inroads as an entertainment hub.

Whatever changes are made, most sources note that MySpace needs to try to remain true to its original frisky and fun start-up core, while innovating a next-generation product and continuing to goose its advertising business.

That also includes starting up renegotiations with Google (GOOG) about its search-advertising partnership, talks that are just getting started now (more on that soon).

Most of all, said one person, pointing to the long and painfully public struggle at Yahoo (YHOO), leadership has to stop the focus on MySpace being broken as soon as possible.

“MySpace needed to be shaken up, but it is still a very powerful brand and has huge traffic,” said the source. “Its management has to project a sense inside and outside that it is not only fixable, but also can lead again.”

As with Yahoo, Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL and many others before it, that’s no easy task for MySpace, starting today.

In any case, here’s the highlights video of the Miller/Van Natta interview at D7:

And here are three not-so-upbeat poll charts about MySpace and how users think about it (click on them to make them larger):

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090617/myspace-after-the-layoffs-heres-whats-what-and-whats-next/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20090401/news-corps-new-digital-lineup-to-be-officially-announced-today/ http://allthingsd.com/20090401/news-corps-new-digital-lineup-to-be-officially-announced-today/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:04:27 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=11548 (UPDATED: With full News Corp. press release below)

News Corp. will officially announce its shaken-but-not-stirred digital lineup this morning, as former AOL head Jon Miller takes over as the media giant’s new chief digital officer.

And Peter Levinsohn–his predecessor at Fox Interactive Media, which Miller will inherit in a new form, along with a larger portfolio, all based in New York–will also officially take up his new post as the key digital exec at News Corp.’s film and television studios in California.

In the press release, the company said Miller “will be charged with driving digital strategy across News Corp. businesses.”

In a statement, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said: “Our focus moving forward is twofold: to enable our digital businesses to flourish as individual entities and to bolster the digital strategies of our core media properties by treating them as central to, and not separate from, the enterprise.”

The release went on to say that Miller will have sway over News Corp.’s standalone digital businesses, including MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Photobucket, as well as Jamba and the Hulu joint venture with NBC Universal, and will “collaborate with operational heads and digital executives through all lines of business around the globe to develop and refine digital efforts.”

Last Friday, BoomTown and others outlined the moves, part of Murdoch’s efforts to make significant changes related to how the company’s digital efforts are managed.

The shifts come in the wake of the previously announced upcoming departure of COO Peter Chernin, who was in charge of digital efforts at News Corp.

Miller (pictured here), whose noncompete agreement with Time Warner (TWX) from his AOL stint just ran out, will report directly to Murdoch. Besides the chief digital officer title, he will also be chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.

Levinsohn, a longtime News Corp. exec, is also getting a significant new job as president of new media and digital distribution at the Fox studios, coordinating delivery of its film and television assets on all mobile and digital platforms.

It will be his task to create sustainable advertising and other business models in this fast-moving arena, as well as create innovative new content for those platforms.

In his new post, Levinsohn (pictured here) will report to Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, co-chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

News Corp. said that Levinsohn will oversee “Fox Filmed Entertainment’s entire content portfolio across all digital distribution channels, including Hulu and third party platforms in the broadband, mobile and gaming markets. He will direct all policy decisions regarding new usage and business models, content protection, and will further develop the studio’s original and derivative content businesses by working with creative talent, distributors and brands to bring short and long-form digital entertainment to audiences worldwide.”

It’s definitely a complex, challenging job–although a big opportunity–for the affable Levinsohn, who never sought the limelight as some who worked for him have, most especially MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe.

Both previous FIM heads, Ross Levinsohn and Peter Levinsohn, many sources said, had to deal with DeWolfe’s own sphere of influence within News Corp. (NWS), especially his close ties to Murdoch. Both FIM and MySpace are located in Beverly Hills, Calif.

As I previously wrote, relations between DeWolfe and both those execs could be described, at best, as tense.

Miller now inherits that relationship at the social-networking site. And he must also navigate the complexities of the global media giant, as well as figure out ongoing relationships with digital companies, such as Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO) and his former company, Time Warner (TWX) unit AOL.

The same, of course, goes for Levinsohn.

And, especially with the weak economy, which often slows innovation at large companies, it is likely the pair will end up having to work together closely if News Corp. is to have a cohesive and successful digital strategy under the new set-up going forward.

(News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

Here’s the press release, after the jump:

News Corporation Establishes Digital Leadership Roles

Jonathan Miller named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Group and Chief Digital Officer for News Corporation

Peter Levinsohn named President New Media and Digital Distribution, Fox Filmed Entertainment

New York, NY April 1, 2009–News Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch today announced the company has named former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Media Group and Chief Digital Officer for News Corporation. Based in New York and reporting directly to Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Miller, 52, will be charged with driving digital strategy across News Corp. businesses.

In this newly created role, Mr. Miller will direct News Corp.’s stand-alone digital businesses, including MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Photobucket, as well as Jamba and the Hulu joint venture with NBC Universal. He will also collaborate with operational heads and digital executives through all lines of business around the globe to develop and refine digital efforts.

“Our focus moving forward is twofold: to enable our digital businesses to flourish as individual entities and to bolster the digital strategies of our core media properties by treating them as central to, and not separate from, the enterprise,” Mr. Murdoch said. “With his strong background in media and entertainment, coupled with a deep understanding of the digital business, Jon Miller is–hands down–the best equipped executive to provide the vision, oversight and operational experience to truly transform our offerings.”

“’I'm fortunate to join the world’s most dynamic media company at a time when digital opportunities are shaping our business in new and exciting ways,” said Miller. “News Corporation has shown a unique ability to excel globally in all forms of media and I look forward to working with its leadership as we position the company for continued growth and innovation.”

Peter Levinsohn has been named to the new position of President New Media and Digital Distribution, Fox Filmed Entertainment, the unit that controls the company’s film and television content worldwide. He will report directly to Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, chairmen and CEOs of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Levinsohn will oversee Fox Filmed Entertainment’s entire content portfolio across all digital distribution channels, including Hulu and third party platforms in the broadband, mobile and gaming markets. He will direct all policy decisions regarding new usage and business models, content protection, and will further develop the studio’s original and derivative content businesses by working with creative talent, distributors and brands to bring short and long-form digital entertainment to audiences worldwide.

Mr. Murdoch said, “Peter Levinsohn did an extraordinary job running Fox Interactive Media, having steered MySpace’s trajectory to the world’s leading social media portal. He is the perfect executive to place at the heart of our global content business as we look to further exploit our movie and television properties over new and yet to be discovered platforms.”

“As one of the leading suppliers of content worldwide, we’ve made huge strides in giving consumers an array of choice when it comes to consuming digital content,” said Levinsohn. “I look forward to working with Jim and Tom and their teams to further our commitment to building distribution models that are both sustainable and durable over the long term.”

“With a newly minted portfolio that combines the absolute best in film and television entertainment, I’m thrilled to have Peter return to the studio to lead this very important initiative as we deepen our commitment to propel our digital businesses forward,” said Jim Gianopulos, co-chairman Fox Filmed Entertainment. Tom Rothman, co-chairman Fox Filmed Entertainment, said, “We look forward to leveraging Peter’s deep knowledge of emerging markets as we bolster our strategies to bring viewers new content built explicitly for these expanding platforms.”

Levinsohn, a 20-year News Corp. veteran, returns to the studio after running Fox Interactive Media, where he oversaw MySpace, IGN, Photobucket and FoxSports.com, among other web properties. Prior to Fox Interactive Media, Levinsohn held a number of senior positions at the company, including president of Fox Digital Media, and president of Worldwide Pay Television and Video on Demand for Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Mr. Miller was most recently a founding partner of Velocity Interactive Group, a digital media and communications investment firm. From 2002 to 2006, he served as Chairman and CEO of AOL, where he restructured the company’s core business lines, focusing on online advertising. Through his leadership, AOL delivered record annual profit growth of 21 percent and increased online advertising growth, the centerpiece of its new business model, by 46 percent. Previously, Miller was CEO and President of USA Information and Services, now IACI and Expedia (the company split in two in 2005), where he helped build industry-leading positions in such areas as online travel, ticketing, and electronic retailing.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Miller spent several years as Managing Director of Nickelodeon International, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Networks. He also served as the Chief Executive of Paramount’s first branded international channel, launching the Paramount Comedy Channel in London. He spent five years at NBA Entertainment where, as Vice President of Programming, he expanded the NBA’s TV production business as well as its overall brand image.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090401/news-corps-new-digital-lineup-to-be-officially-announced-today/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090327/jon-miller-to-news-corp-as-digital-head/ http://allthingsd.com/20090327/jon-miller-to-news-corp-as-digital-head/#comments Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:20:33 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=11378

BoomTown has confirmed a report by Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily that former AOL head Jon Miller is set to take over as digital head at News Corp., replacing Peter Levinsohn.

The move was also mentioned in a blog post by Miller’s partner in an investment company, Ross Levinsohn, who once held a smaller version of the job Miller is taking.

But Miller has not actually signed up for the job officially, since he is still under a noncompete agreement with Time Warner from his AOL stint. It runs out in three days, in fact.

As some might recall, Miller was barred from taking a board seat at Yahoo last year by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.

But sources said News Corp. is likely to announce Miller as head by Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

Once he does sign, which seems likely, Miller will become News Corp.’s chief digital officer, reporting directly to the media giant’s head, Rupert Murdoch. Based in New York, he will also be chairman and CEO of the newly created News Digital Media group.

Sources noted that this is a a different and larger platform for Miller, bigger than just the Fox Interactive Media job that Levinsohn held. It will go across all properties held by News Corp. across the globe.

“The idea is to mainstream the digital initiatives, which have been all over the company,” said one source close to the situation.

Levinsohn will move to another job within News Corp. (NWS) at the film and television studios, to coordinate delivery of its assets on mobile and digital platforms, sources said. It will be his task to create sustainable business models in this fast-moving arena.

News Corp. has, in fact, been searching for a new digital head for the past several months, talking to a number of well-known Internet execs, including Joost head Mike Volpi, former AOL exec Jim Bankoff and former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta.

The decision to rejigger News Corp.’s digital assets came after the announcement that President and COO Peter Chernin was leaving his job and has largely been pushed by Murdoch.

Previously, Chernin had been in charge of digital efforts at News Corp.

The search for the position was, in fact, conducted by well-known head tech and media headhunter Jim Citrin of Spencer Stuart.

Ironically, Miller is still essentially taking a job once held by his current partner, Ross Levinsohn, at the investment fund, Velocity Interactive Group. As I noted above, Levinsohn confirmed the Miller offer from News Corp. in a blog post called “Thunderclap.”

The move is a fascinating one, and one of many in the digital arena of late among its top execs. Former Google (GOOG) exec Tim Armstrong recently took over as CEO of the Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL, for example.

Also, even though the job will cover all the the many News Corp. Web properties, even more compelling will be how Miller will deal with its largest and most prominent asset: social-networking giant MySpace.

More to the point, it will be riveting to see how he will handle managing MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe.

Both previous FIM heads, Ross Levinsohn and Peter Levinsohn, many sources said, had to deal with DeWolfe’s own sphere of influence within News Corp., especially his close ties to Murdoch. Both FIM and MySpace are located in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Relations between DeWolfe and both those execs could be described, at best, as tense.

But Miller, who is a much bigger Internet player in his own right, with a more powerful charge from Murdoch, certainly is likely to shift that balance of power.

More to come…

(News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090327/jon-miller-to-news-corp-as-digital-head/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20090317/myspace-pali-sees-big-rev-drop-expects-layoffs/ http://allthingsd.com/20090317/myspace-pali-sees-big-rev-drop-expects-layoffs/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:15:34 +0000 Eric Savitz http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=9532 The time has come for big changes at MySpace, according to Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield.

In a research note this morning, Greenfield asserts that, with just over a year to go on the News Corp. (NWS) unit’s search advertising deal with Google (GOOG), “it appears as though Google simply does not care about social search.” He contends it is difficult to imagine Google paying anywhere near what they were previously shelling out to MySpace, “especially as the inherent functionality of social networks is diminishing the importance of search.” The current deal expires in June 2010.

Greenfield estimates that MySpace will get about $300 million in revenue from Google in both the June 2009 fiscal year and in FY 2010, or about 35 percent of revenues in each year. He says there could be some competition for a new deal from Yahoo (YHOO), AOL (TWX) and MSN (MSFT), but he nonetheless sees a 50 percent drop in search fees. He also notes that Fox Interactive Media, the NWS unit that includes MySpace, is seeing costs increase even as revenues shrink.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090317/myspace-pali-sees-big-rev-drop-expects-layoffs/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090224/peter-chernin-unplugged-just-for-now-methinks-the-entire-d5-interview/ http://allthingsd.com/20090224/peter-chernin-unplugged-just-for-now-methinks-the-entire-d5-interview/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:29:23 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=10258

Peter Chernin might be going from News Corp. But he’s not forgotten, at the least by our little tech Web site (see, Peter, we still like you, even if you’re–almost–no longer our boss!).

In fact, you can see him in action below in a video, talking about digital issues and more in a long interview I did with him onstage at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference in 2007.

Besides discussing the controversial acquisition attempt of Dow Jones by News Corp., Chernin also talked about the company’s experience with the social-networking site MySpace, its now successful joint venture with NBC Universal to create the Hulu online video service and the intersection of Hollywood and technology.

Chernin, with whom I have had several chats since then about the Web world, seemed to me to be intently and increasingly interested in the arena, especially since having purview over Fox Interactive Media as COO and President of News Corp. (NWS). He was also deeply involved in all the negotiations about digital issues related to the writers’ strike. (News Corp. is the owner of Dow Jones, which owns this Web site.)

And unlike a lot of Hollywood types, the 57-year-old Chernin has never been annoyingly disdainful (or, more to the point, deeply ignorant) about Silicon Valley, so I would not be surprised if he ended up in some prominent digital job as a next act.

While Chernin did pass on a chance to run Yahoo (YHOO)–he was a top choice of its board before it hired Carol Bartz–some more recent speculation, for example, has centered on other big tech jobs, even including potentially being a good candidate to take over at Apple (AAPL) if its ailing leader Steve Jobs ever decides to fully step aside.

Of course, all such chatter is premature given that he will not be out the door at the media giant–I wonder if I can get his luxe office on the Fox lot?–until the end of June.

Until then, here’s Chernin talking tech:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090224/peter-chernin-unplugged-just-for-now-methinks-the-entire-d5-interview/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090205/news-corp-misses-estimates-huge-writeoff-murdoch-says-its-worse-than-he-thought/ http://allthingsd.com/20090205/news-corp-misses-estimates-huge-writeoff-murdoch-says-its-worse-than-he-thought/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:12:04 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=3934 Even though analysts had been moving their estimates down at the company’s urging, News Corp. still underperformed the consensus for its quarterly earnings report card. And the company is recording an $8.4 billion write-off related to its TV and newspaper businesses. (News Corp. is the owner of Dow Jones and this Web site.)

Quote from CEO Rupert Murdoch: “Our results for the quarter are a direct reflection of the grim economic climate. While we anticipated a weakening, the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought. As a result, we have been taking actions to preserve a solid level of operational profitability and a strong balance sheet without sacrificing future growth. We are implementing rigorous cost-cutting across all operations and reducing head count where appropriate. We believe our businesses are well positioned to withstand a lengthy downturn and to emerge stronger as the current economic situation improves.”

News Corp. (NWS) knocked down guidance for the rest of its fiscal year (which ends this summer) again: Last fall it had said it would expect operating income to drop to the low- to mid-teen range for FY ’09; today it says it’s planning on a 30 percent decline.

Excluding the write-down, the company posted earnings of 12 cents a share on revenue of $7.9 billion; Wall Street had been looking for 19 cents and $8.39 billion, respectively. Including the charge, the company lost $6.4 billion, or $2.45 a share.

Murdoch’s comments about things being worse than he thought should be more worrisome than similar quotes we’ve heard from other media CEOs. That’s because Murdoch has been one of the most bearish of moguls since last spring. And last fall, he began guiding down expectations again.

But the market seems to be taking all of this in stride, and News Corp. shares were up slightly in aftermarket trading. Either investors are relieved that things aren’t worse or they are encouraged by Murdoch’s remarks, which were peppered with both pledges to cut costs and an optimistic refrain that things will get better one day.

Here’s the breakdown of the company’s operating performance–note the huge drop in the company’s TV business (click to enlarge):

MySpace/Fox Interactive Media falls under “other.” Here’s some more info on that from the release: “The decline in FIM operating results was driven by increased costs associated with the growth in unique users, international expansion, the launch of MySpace music and new features, as well as lower subscription revenue at IGN.”

Update from the call: FIM revenues of $226 million are down three percent year-over-year, due to lower subscription rates at IGN, the game-centric business News Corp. bought around the same time as MySpace in 2005. The good news: MySpace ad revenues are flat compared to last year, which is pretty good, considering the rest of the Web.

Asked about his views on the Web as an ad medium in general, Murdoch gave a nuanced but fairly mainstream take: It’s great to sell search ads, but the rest of the online ad business is plagued by an “almost infinite increase in inventory” which keeps pushing rates down. On MySpace: “In the social-network area, we’re getting 80 to 90 percent of total revenue, but that is not a particularly relevant number….We need to find new ways to monetize our huge audience.”

The breakdown on the write-off:

$4.6 billion on “indefinite-lived intangibles (primarily FCC licenses)”
$3.6 billion of goodwill
$185 million on “Newspapers and Information Services fixed assets”

Still reading? Then you should know that Murdoch still doesn’t want to buy the New York Times: “I’ve got no interest. I’ve got no desire to be an even bigger public enemy. Or target.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090205/news-corp-misses-estimates-huge-writeoff-murdoch-says-its-worse-than-he-thought/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090127/layoffs-at-fox-interactive-media/ http://allthingsd.com/20090127/layoffs-at-fox-interactive-media/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:39:26 +0000 Emily Steel http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=7960 News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox Interactive Media digital division is laying off about five percent of its workforce, or about 100 people, amid continued cost-cutting efforts, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The cuts, which started in the last month, are happening gradually unit by unit, the person said. The layoffs include all groups, from social-networking site MySpace to photo-sharing site Photobucket to mobile. (News Corp. owns Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the owner of AllThingsD.com.)

“I can confirm that several of the groups within FIM are eliminating some jobs and repurposing others,” a FIM spokesman said in a statement. “This is part of a larger effort we’re making to put FIM in the best possible position to succeed now and, more importantly, to emerge even stronger once the markets recover. It’s important to note that we continue to hire in many areas.”

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090127/layoffs-at-fox-interactive-media/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090106/video-which-already-killed-the-radio-star-is-the-killer-app-online-for-2009/ http://allthingsd.com/20090106/video-which-already-killed-the-radio-star-is-the-killer-app-online-for-2009/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:00:57 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=8186

BoomTown likes charts, so here are two recent ones from comScore and Nielsen about online video usage for November of 2008.

The pair have different results. But, overall, it’s up big time, year over year (40 percent!), as viewers have really started to up their time spent watching videos on the Web and also the number of videos they watch.

Google (GOOG) property YouTube ruled, no surprise, at 40.3 percent share of videos, according to comScore, with little competition.

The next largest is a dwarf in comparison–News Corp. (NWS) unit Fox Interactive Media at 3.5 percent. (News Corp is the owner of this Web site.)

You can yammer all you like about cloud computing, but online video and its monetization is going to be the big story for 2009, because it is exactly where the audience is going.

Here are the charts (click on the images to make them larger).

And below the charts is the music video of the classic Buggles hit, “Video Killed the Radio Star”:

November 2008 comScore

November 2008 Nielsen

Buggles

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