MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta is leaving the company after just 10 months on the job, as MySpace continues to struggle in the social networking market now dominated by Facebook.
Van Natta will be replaced by MySpace executives Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who were promoted to “co-president” status. Van Natta’s departure was announced Wednesday and was effective immediately.
MySpace characterized Van Natta’s departure as a mutual decision, and insisted that he has helped point the company in the right direction, adding more than 1.5 million users.
“Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalize MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work,” Jon Miller, MySpace owner News Corp’s chairman, said in a press release. “However, in talking to Owen about his priorities both personally and professionally going forward, we both agreed that it was best for him to step down at this time. I want to thank Owen for all of his efforts.”
Van Natta, Jones and Hirschhorn all joined MySpace in April 2009. Van Natta replaced Chris DeWolfe, one of MySpace’s creators.