MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta resigns

MySpace has announced chief executive Owen Van Natta has resigned from his position, with current chief operating officer Mike Jones and chief operating officer Jason Hirschhorn to take his place as co-presidents.

Van Natta joined MySpace in April last year, with News Corp looking to turn the site around as it continues to lose ground to rivals Facebook and Twitter.

The company said in a statement the resignation is effective immediately, with the new co-presidents reporting to chief executive of News Corp digital media Jon Miller.

“Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalise MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work,” Miller said.

“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 also commented generally on MySpace and its progress, but did not address any questions regarding his relatively brief role as head of the site.

“MySpace is an incredibly unique place and we’ve made real gains in terms of product focus and user experience. I’m proud of the work we’ve all accomplished together and look forward to watching its continued growth.”

It is understood Van Natta joined MySpace to help it gain some lost ground against rivals Facebook and Twitter. It achieved some success, with its MySpace Music platform recording a 190% increase in traffic from September 2008 to June 2009, according to Nielsen data.

However, it still struggles against competitors. Music video portal Vevo recorded 35.4 million unique visitors in December, according to ComScore, with MySpace Music recording just 33.1 million.

MySpace has attempted to position itself as a music destination rather than a pure social network, with thousands of big-name artists and bands creating profiles. However, it is still failing to produce the same sort of traffic as rival Facebook.

Jones and Hirschhorn said in a statement the two have a new set of goals for the company, which were not specified, but also said there will be an emphasis on new content.

“We joined MySpace last April with very a specific set of goals in mind, and are anxious to continue working together to make those goals a reality. This business is now pointed in the right direction, and we have a great team of employees that will continue to push MySpace closer to its potential as the place where people go to be discovered and to discover great content.”

Jones previously founded Userplane, a company which provided services for online communities. The business was acquired by AOL in 2006, where Jones acted as vice president for some time.

Hirschhorn was previously president of Sling Media’s Entertainment Group, and acted as chief digital officer at MTV Networks.

It is unknown whether the two new presidents will continue MySpace’s focus on music, or introduce a totally new service for the site.