MySpace CEO Stepping Down In Management Shake-up

The move comes just a month after former AOL executive Jonathan Miller was named to oversee News Corp.'s digital media business, raising speculation Miller is shaking up the MySpace management ranks.

MySpace has been losing ground to the fast-growing Facebook recently. That Web site is more popular internationally: In March, Facebook had 296 million visitors compared with 126 million for MySpace, according to Comscore, the Web-traffic-monitoring company. While MySpace remains more popular in the U.S., Facebook has been gaining in monthly visits, and industry observers expect it to overtake MySpace within the next year or so.

A report from CNNMoney.com quoted analysts who estimated MySpace's 2008 revenue at around $600 million, far less than the $1 billion target reportedly set by the parent company.

A News Corp. statement announcing the management change did not specify when DeWolfe would step down, only that it would happen "in the near future." The company said the decision not to renew DeWolfe's contract was made "by mutual agreement." DeWolfe will continue to serve on the board of MySpace China and be a strategic adviser to MySpace.

News Corp. didn't immediately name a successor to DeWolfe. The CNNMoney report said speculation is that Miller could name former Facebook operating chief Owen Van Natta as the new CEO.

The company also said Miller "was in discussions with Tom Anderson, MySpace's president, about Mr. Anderson assuming a new role in the organization."