Gawker
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hires
Should MySpace Hire the Hero or the Zero?
Former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta is the frontrunner to replace Chris DeWolfe as MySpace CEO. Blog lordling Jason Calacanis has been jokingly nominated for the News Corp. gig. Here's who should get it. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by nirreskeya: Obviously it's possible, but is it common for execs to live in the Bay Area and commute to L.A.? 3 Responses | Other threads
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exits
Friendship with Boss's Wife Can't Save MySpace CEO
Sucking up to the CEO's wife is usually a wise move. But did it doom MySpace chief Chris DeWolfe? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by owenmeanie: I prefer to think of MySpace as the girl who I lost my virginity to - DAMN it was hot... more » | Other threads
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hires
AOL Outcast Jon Miller to Join News Corp.'s Soap Opera in Progress
Rupert Murdoch's media empire continues its turmoil after the announcement of COO Peter Chernin's departure. The newest player: Former AOL CEO Jon Miller, who's widely expected to take the top digital job there. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Miss Anita Manbadly: Are those his legs, or is this some Muppet-like trickery? It looks like they stuck some poles through his... 1 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Is Chris DeWolfe on His Way Out at MySpace?
Bad days for MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe: A tell-all book about the lowbrow social network's shady origins is hitting the shelves as a Wall Street analyst predicts layoffs. How long will he last? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Nick Denton: Why exactly is it such a scandal that the founders were involved in porn and spam? Where else were they... 1 Responses | Other threads
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leaks
MySpace Memo: Three Top Execs Leaving
Amit Kapur, the 27-year-old No. 2 executive at MySpace, is leaving, according to a memo from MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. It looks like he's planning a startup: He's taking two executives with him. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by heroinandpeeps: Be honest with me...there is no "Tom," is there? 4 Responses | Other threads
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myspace
Wendi Deng Murdoch's MySpace Problem
A tipster tells us Wendi Deng dropped by MySpace headquarters with a friend on Friday. What is Mrs. Rupert Murdoch up to at the News Corp.-owned social network? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by jbk: You know what would be really funny - if Murdoch's media empire ever relentlessly pursued Bill Clinton for cheating on... more » | Other threads
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parties
Why Skipping Davos Is This Year's True Status Symbol
How a conference dies: The savvy crowd stays away, while eager second-raters fill their seats. Google cofounder Sergey Brin is skipping Davos. Meanwhile, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe fought with a colleague to go amid layoffs. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Nick Denton: Hmm. Are you sure people staying away from Davos because it's over? I think it's more likely that all the... 7 Responses | Other threads
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DailyFill
MySpace launches another doomed gossip site
The celebrity-industrial complex will expand, must expand, can't help but expand until every site on the Web features gossipy famous-people headlines. The latest entrant: DailyFill, MySpace's slapdash copycat celebrity-news site.
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By Owen ThomasComment by JustStart: satan shat myspace out one night after a raging circuit party. 1 Responses | Other threads
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scandal
Who's Behind the Campaign to Smear Wendi Deng Murdoch?
Sometimes the mere existence of a rumor is as interesting as the rumor itself, and the recent surge of people breathlessly telling us that Wendi Deng Murdoch is cuckolding News Corp. Rupert Murdoch certainly falls into that category. In the last couple weeks, three separate people have come forward to tell us Deng is having an affair with Chris DeWolfe, a MySpace founder who now works for Rupert after News Corp. purchased the social network three years ago for $580 million. It's pretty clear there is a campaign underway to get this story out. And whoever it is has finally found an outlet to bite. There's certainly no shortage of people who might have an ax to grind against Murdoch, Deng or even DeWolfe. If you have any idea who's behind it, please email me.
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Comment by bytememehard: Even their shadows say she's fucking around on him. 8 Responses | Other threads
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digital music
MySpace wants to sell MP3 players
Want a MyPod? MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe hints that the social-networking site might sell MySpace-branded MP3 players to make its MySpace Music spinoff a more plausible competitor to Apple's iTunes. Last we checked, this plan did not work for Napster, either. [BetaNews]
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Comment by daruma_mac: Is it going to sneak up on me with emo music(or nickelback for that matter), and scare my dog... like... more » | Other threads
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geek love
Michael Arrington pounding his MySpace source
When TechCrunch, the blog for startup fetishists, published leaked screengrabs of MySpace's just-launched music service, Michael Arrington wrote: "We’ve been pounding our sources for screenshots of the new service for weeks without any luck." Now we know what he meant. A tipster tells us, and another source confirms, that Arrington's been dating Dani Dudeck, MySpace's VP of global communications, for months. More »
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Comment by Rachel Marsden: Also, people who use "wait for it" as a splicer should be stood up against the nearest wall and shot. 2 Responses | Other threads
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music
MySpace launches music site, biz prays it's the next MTV
MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe wanted a one-stop music shop that would have included event ticket and merchandise purchases along with streaming audio and paid downloads. What he got were agreements from the four major labels for the streaming audio and a deal with Amazon to sell digital downloads. Which is something. Also, there's handful of big-name sponsors like McDonald's and Toyota, and MySpace certainly still has a huge user base of music lovers. Whether or not this is "the one" for the record industry remains to be seen. How's the service? More » -
digital music
MySpace Music — like Muxtape, except people who wear deodorant will use it
MySpace Music, a joint venture between the News Corp. social network and music labels Universal, Sony and Warner,finally launches next week, says Fortune, though it still won't have a CEO. MySpace users will be able to listen to and organize playlists full of songs from all three music labels for free. (EMI is the lone holdout, which means no coldplay.) Playlists will include affiliate links to Amazon.com's MP3 store. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe says ad revenues and song kickbacks are going to save the music industry, replacing lost CD sales. More »
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Comment by socialmediamojo: Funny how the imeem reference got cut off there.... I'm pretty much expecting myspace music to be a clone of imeem... more » | Other threads
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Next Establishment
Once again, Vanity Fair leaves geeks at the kids' power table
Preeminent among the magazine world's kingmaking power lists is Vanity Fair's New Establishment, which appears in the October issue — on newsstands in L.A. and New York today, but not in the Bay Area for another six days. Silicon Valley gets similar short shrift: The names who make it there are predictable bigs like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, or Hollywood-crossover types like Jeff Skoll, eBay's first employee turned movie producer. Walt Mossberg, now employed by New Establishment perennial Rupert Murdoch, also squeaked in. The consolation prize Vanity Fair offers: Its "Next Establishment" list, reserved for the likes of Twitter's Ev Williams. It's a marvelous piece of New York media trickery — flatter the geeks by making them feel included, but corral them into a side room so the real power brokers aren't offended by comparison. True, the "Next Establishment" suggests that these are people who might matter in the future. But in saying that, Vanity Fair's editors are also sending the message that right here, right now, its "Next" nominees are nobodies. On this year's list: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Robleh: I doubt they would put Murdoch's wife on a list of nobodies. more » | Other threads
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jackpot
Chris De Wolfe's gain is Fox execs' loss
News Corp.'s online arm, Fox Interactive Media, has struggled to attract online talent while paying them like a startup would. (News Corp. shares just don't cut it.) The solution for the unit, which includes MySpace and a passel of lesser-known websites: a long-term incentive plan, or LTIP, which offers a sort of phantom equity to executives in the division. In the last few weeks, the numbers for the most recent fiscal year which ended June 30 were distributed, and they were "disastrously low," says a tipster. "Most executives were already looking to leave," he says. "They hated FIM and the only reason they were staying was because of promises made about the LTIP." True, FIM hasn't quite made its aggressively optimistic numbers. But executives believe the real reason their bonuses are so low is MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe's fat contract. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Furious George: @transparency: It looks like one of those circa-mid-1990s knit sweatshirts, a.k.a., a drug rug. more » | Other threads
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nerdspotting
MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe out and about with Paris Hilton
That's so not hot: Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of MySpace, is dating Paris Hilton, Michael Arrington reports. Or if not dating, they've at least been seen together a lot, from Hollywood to the Hamptons. We wonder: Is it a coincidence that Hilton has fallen into DeWolfe's circle? Only two months ago, we reported how MySpace's security holes had further exposed the starlet, by making her supposedly private photos on the social network public. DeWolfe is married, but separated; Hilton has another boyfriend. So perhaps this isn't so much dating as tech support. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Web2PointOhShit: @Lawrence: Are you talking about Hilton or DeWolfe? :P more » | Other threads
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slingshot labs
MySpace incubator succeeds at reeling in wayward employee
Little has been heard from Slingshot Labs, the startup "incubator" News Corp. formed in February, in the months since its creation. The $15 million fund for spinoff ventures did succeed in keeping MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe in place: We hear that he made it a quid pro quo before signing a new, lucrative contract with Rupert Murdoch. He's not the only MySpace employee Slingshot played a part in keeping down in Los Angeles. We hear Nick Granado, a top engineer behind MySpace's iPhone version, first flirted with a job at Facebook, then worked briefly at Imeem, before getting lured back with a gig at Slingshot. More » -
once you're lucky, twice you're good
F is for Fitzpatrick, and "hookers and blow"
LiveJournal founder Brad Fitzpatrick is a prankster, as evidenced by his Halloween costume last year, when the new Googler dressed up as Facebook to mock his coworkers' fears of the social network. I'm told that in Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, Sarah Lacy's new book about Web 2.0, there's an anecdote about Fitzpatrick submitting an expense report — successfully! — for "hookers and blow" when he worked at blog software startup Six Apart. That was likely a reference to the early days of LiveJournal, when users made ridiculous accusations that Fitzpatrick was spending money meant for servers and bandwidth on "hookers and blow." We'd love to hear more, but alas, Fitzpatrick only got 8 out of 294 pages, according to the book's index. Here's the page for "D" through "F": More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by BobDope: The way to do this is a naming convention where your servers are named things like hookers and blow. more » | Other threads
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exits
News Corp. boss reorganizes Fox Interactive, cans top sales guy
Fox Interactive Media — the unit overseeing MySpace and other News Corp. online properties — will miss its fiscal-year revenue projections of $1 billion by more than 10 percent, or $100 million, the WSJ reports. As a result, Fox Interactive chief revenue officer Michael Barrett is out of a job. The big problem is making money off of MySpace. It has lots of users, but as MySpace advertising partner Google has discovered, brands don't want to put their product next to Tila Tequila. So now MySpace is going to try something we thought Facebook would do — create an ad network that targets MySpace members when they visit third-party sites. It'll be called the "Fox Interactive Media Audience Network," and Adam Bain will run it. PaidContent obtained a memo from Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media on the reshuffling and it's pasted below. More » -
clips
Chris DeWolfe shocked Google can't make money on MySpace
Google missed Wall Street's expectations last quarter and during a conference call with analysts, CEO Eric Schmidt and the gang blamed ad partner MySpace. This news shocked, simply shocked, MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe, he tells interviewer Kara Swisher in this clip. He has "no idea" what all that was about, he says. Then — uh oh, it's slippery! — DeWolfe starts to backslide.
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Comment by goldy74: Maybe they're not making money because of that shirt he's wearing? more » | Other threads
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Comment by MrMedia: I missed the interview. Did she ask them how they made a business on $0.01 CPMs? more » | Other threads
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facebook
Facebook rejects MySpace OpenSocial invite
Speaking at a conference over the weekend, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe reportedly asked Facebook to join Google's OpenSocial initiative. Facebook COO Owen Van Natta politely rejected the idea. He said Facebook's developer platform protects user privacy better than the open standard. More »
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Comment by Paul Lindner: No need to worry about OpenSocial compatibility. The fine folks over at Open Socket are already running open social... more » | Other threads
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careers
MySpace to expand internationally and go on hiring spree
MySpace plans to double its workforce over then next year to add features, expand and compete with Facebook. The company also wants to expand to 30 countries from the 23 it's in. "We'll run out of people in the U.S. Our goal is to be No. 1 in every market and the biggest Web site in the world,'' says MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. With Google hiring continuing unabated and Facebook wanting to double its workforce as well, where are all the employees going to come from? Sergey, Chris and Zuck: I will blog for options. -
jackpot
MySpace boys are paid more than almost anyone at News Corp.
The deal that MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson got from Rupert Murdoch will pay them more than every exec at News Corp. except Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News. Nikki Finke notes that their pay package is particulary impressive because News Corp. is stingy with executive compensation. The pair are rumored to receive $15 million spread over two years — plus equity in MySpace China. -
party report
MySpace requests friends in San Francisco
MySpace threw a swanky gathering last night at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art after News Corp. megamogul Rupert Murdoch and MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe's keynote at the Web 2.0 conference. I'd like to tell you more about the fancy guests (there were tons!), L.A.-style atmosphere, and crowd of gawkers who surrounded a Yoda-like Rupert Murdoch, but Valleywag was unceremoniously booted from the party once Dani Dudeck, MySpace's overanxious PR head, found out we were there. (Embedded, above, is Kara Swisher from AllThingsD's take on the scene.) More »
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Comment by Owen Thomas: @Jeremy: Oh, the crowd was pixilated, for sure. Or did you mean "pixelated"? more » | Other threads
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embargo breakers
MySpace's not-on-the-record briefing notes
When I got home from covering the Web 2.0 Summit keynote with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, I found the following email in my inbox: "This information is not for on-the-record use, its simply a background overview for your reference if youre planning to cover tonights discussion." Funny, I never recall asking for this document, let alone agreeing to keep it off the record — an arrangement that, in my experience, requires the mutual consent of reporter and source. So here, forthwith, are News Corp.'s official talking points about Wednesday night's event. Contrast them with my live reporting. Of most vital interest: The new San Francisco office is hiring 200 people. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Faster: How do you put something in writing, distribute it to media and call it off the record? more » | Other threads
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breaking
MySpace CEO renews contract for two years
WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — "I'm happy to say I'll have a job for the next two years," says Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, on stage with conference organizer John Battelle and his boss, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, confirming widespread rumors that he and MySpace cohort Tom Anderson had renewed their contract to run the social network for another two years. "I had to go from the nickel-and-dime newspaper culture, to the magazine culture ... to Hollywood and the Internet culture," says Murdoch, nodding to the reported — but unconfirmed — figure that DeWolfe and Anderson would make: $30 million over two years. More live coverage, after the jump. More » -
myspace
A new deal for MySpace execs Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson is worth $30 million over two years, says Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka, confirming our earlier report. That's almost enough to buy a new jet. Or 0.2 percent of Facebook. [Silicon Alley Insider] -
deals
MySpace pair get $50 million for losing ground to Facebook
A News Corp. source is confirming that MySpace honchos Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe — the site's founders in name, if not in fact — have signed new contracts. How much did it take to keep the pair from bolting MySpace, even as it keeps losing ground to rival social network Facebook? It's been reported the pair demanded two-year deals worth $50 million each, but word is they got about half that. Even then, are they worth it? Here's a graph that will keep News Corp. investors awake at night. More »
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Comment by Rock tha Hizzee: First rule of acquisition club? Get rid of the founders! [techmerkin.wordpress.com] more » | Other threads
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social networks
MySpace platform not headed to SF — but office is
Rumors are swirling that MySpace will announce a platform for application developers, like Facebook's next week at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. But they're wrong, according to a source close to the company. There is a platform in the works, but it's not ready yet — delayed, like so many other MySpace tech projects. Instead, MySpace's Chris DeWolfe and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch will be in town to make some announcement related to MySpace's instant-messaging client — ho-hum news — and, more interestingly, to open up a San Francisco office. Why the need to expand from MySpace's Beverly Hills digs? More » -
myspace
Chris DeWolfe's misplaced affection
MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe may not be your friend (that's the other co-founder, Tom Anderson), but he does hold a few powerful people near-and-dear. Including, Portfolio reports, Wendi Deng, the wife of News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch. Portfolio surmises that DeWolfe's friendship with Deng might help convince her husband to meet DeWolfe and Anderson's $50M compensation demand to stick around for another year. We think that DeWolfe has the wrong target in mind. While it might be easier for him to spend time with Deng — they're both on the board of MySpace China — we think he should be buttering up News Corp heir apparent Peter Chernin, who recent fillings revealed to be the highest paid person at News Corp. -
online video
Michael Eisner, the Web 2.0 guru
Michael Eisner, the former Disney CEO, is turning into a Web 2.0 demigod, claims BusinessWeek. Except it fails to prove any kind of new-media apotheosis whatsoever. Beyond a few cursory details about Eisner's portfolio of invesments — kid-friendly, just like Disney! — the majority of the piece details his interest in a potential acquisition of Topps, the trading-cards company. Somehow, in the perfervid imaginations of BusinessWeek editors, the right to print Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trading cards and stickers transforms into "fodder for online shows." But never mind that. More » -
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Comment by DaveMcClure500Hats: @david quiec / jdhouse4: wait a sec... i thought schmoozing *was* working?!? more » | Other threads
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steve jobs
Blender gets it wrong
Glossy music magazine Blender has named Apple CEO Steve Jobs to the top of the Powergeek 25, its list of the top 25 people who influence online music. We don't object to the content of the list, but we do object to the title. His Steveness is no geek! And neither are flashy MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson nor suave Youtubers Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. The only recognizable geek on there is Bram Cohen of BitTorrent, at number 19. The rest are either techies, hipsters, or businesspeople. Someone at Blender should read up on their definitions.
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Comment by Megan McCarthy: @yinst: It's actually "nit picking," not "neat picking." ... I've just earned another point, haven't I? more » | Other threads
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google
Apparently we missed tons of fun at that Google Zeitgeist party
We're still getting reports about this week's Google Zeitgeist party, where MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe felt up flag girls from the Extra Action Marching Band. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by jfruh: Wow, I knew Google was loaded, but 900 nillion! They're so rich they're paying in made-up amounts of money! more » | Other threads
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chris dewolfe
Google Zeitgeist party at Shoreline: Pix plz k thx bye
A reader drops some gossip about The MySpace Cofounder Not Known as Tom, but don't believe it til someone sends pics: More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by christophercarfi: i'll take EAMB in that rumble any day of the week. more » | Other threads
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myspace
MySpace: The Business of Spam 2.0 (Exhaustive Edition)
Does Trent Lapinski's exposé about MySpace (digest version here) read like a conspiracy theory? Sure. Does our boss think it's over-outraged? Sure, but you can't trust him, he believes in the lone gunman and a real moon landing. Buy the anger or not, this guest feature story is a great read for those of us who are goddamn sick of Tom, Tom, Tom. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by applextrent: Actually, I am a Mac user and I use Gmail so I don't have to worry about spam. Also I... 1 Responses | Other threads
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