MySpace Cuts Staff to Regain Agility
In his biography or Rupert Murdoch, “the Man Who Owns the News,” Michael Wolff spoke indirectly of News Corps culture saying “every second working for [Rupert] Murdoch is a second spent thinking about what Murdoch wants.” Outside the realm of News Corps more core news-driven media properties, MySpace seemed to escape some of that oversight these past few years. The company was coasting on a straightening trajectory as an almost unaffiliated entity.
With new handpicked leadership in place, that’s changing. Looking to refocus on the customer experience and regain a nimble edge without excess financial weight, MySpace said it will lay off about 30% of its staff.
“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” new MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said in a statement.
MySpace’s advertising relationship with Google is set to expire in 2010. In anticipation of that, and to regain ground lost to rival Facebook, MySpace will look to build up user engagement – giving the site’s audience better reasons to stay active and involved.
With the cuts, MySpace will still have about 1,000 employees to do the job.
Related Articles from Metue
•More Shakeups at MySpace
• News Corp Starts Mixing Up MySpace: Founder Out
•Jon Miller Takes On News Corp Role (External)
•Shuffling Executives: News Corp Makes More Changes
•Chernin Out at News Corp – Full Details and Departure Memos
