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MySpace, once the King of the Internet, lost its second CEO yesterday in less than a year. The response from press has, rightfully, been bleak.

Owen Van Natta, who was celebrated as the savior of MySpace when he was hired, was apparently fired over something as simple as trying to control his executive team. His Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn has been telling friends for months that he’d soon be leaving MySpace. We wrote that he was on his way out last week. Hirschhorn’s comment the next day to us was “I was sleeping and just woke up to see [TechCrunch] unfortunately in the middle of someone’s game.”

Apparently Hirschhorn was right. There was a game going on, and he won. Or at least he half won. He’s now co-president with Mike Jones, previously MySpace’s COO. And both of these guys report directly to News Corp. Digital Chief Jon Miller.

But all that’s old news now. Today is a new day. Let’s take stock of the current MySpace situation (page view and unique visitor stats are Comscore worldwide), compared to nine months ago when all of the guys mentioned above started their jobs:

• Unique visitors nine months ago: 125 million
• Unique visitors today: 122 million (-3%)
• Facebook unique visitor growth in same period: 48%, to 469 million
• Page views nine months ago: 35 billion
• Page views today: 20 billion (-44%)
• Facebook page view growth in same period: 118%, to 193 billion

MySpace also failed to launch a single new product of note. Which was apparently Van Natta’s chief complaint about Hirschhorn, who was the Chief Product Officer before being promoted yesterday.

MySpace now effectively has three CEOs – Hirschhorn, Jones and Miller. And none of them can likely get anything drastic done, even in the unlikely event that they were to agree on what that drastic thing is.

A company that is hemorrhaging users this badly, and soon to lose their biggest source of revenue, can’t afford to have leadership by committee which is then subject to veto by the corporate parent.

A further concern is the fact that MySpace can’t offer lucrative stock options to employees, since they are a subsidiary of a public company. The best engineers won’t go anywhere near MySpace.

MySpace’s only hope, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here, is to be spun off from News Corp. into an independent entity. They need an intelligent management structure (no co-presidents) filled with enthusiastic executives (who don’t trash the company in public) and they need a radical product plan. And they need to be private so they can give employees stock options.

MySpace is just an afterthought for News Corp. An unwanted step child. MySpace, once the King of the Internet, deserves better.

Below are some charts showing How MySpace has been crushed by Facebook during Van Natta’s reign across all metrics: visitors, pageviews, and time spent. Note that the charts below measure the U.S. only, as opposed to the worldwide numbers above, but the trends are the same:

After yesterday’s news, no one is giving MySpace the benefit of the doubt any more. Stick a fork in it, this turkey is done.

MySpace has just announced that CEO Owen Van Natta has left the company. Taking his place will be co-Presidents Mike Jones And Jason Hirschhorn, who had been serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer, respectively. The news comes less than two weeks after we interviewed Van Natta about his first eight months running MySpace, when he gave no indication that he was intending to leave the company. Van Natta joined MySpace last April alongside Jones and Hirschhorn as part of a major executive shakeup.

We’d previously reported that Chief Product Officer Hirschhorn would soon be leaving the company. Obviously that isn’t the case. Our sources tell us that there has been a long standing conflict between News Corp digital chief Jon Miller and Van Natta, and that part of Van Natta’s decision to leave was his inability to terminate Hirschhorn.

Before MySpace, Van Natta had a short-lived stint as CEO of Project Playlist, where he stayed for around five months.

We’ve included the release below:

News Corporation today announced that Owen Van Natta will step down from his position as MySpace CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Van Natta will be replaced by newly-elevated co-Presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who will each report to Jon Miller, Chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corporation. All three executives joined MySpace in April 2009, with Mr. Jones and Mr. Hirschhorn previously serving as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer, respectively.

“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,” said Jon Miller, News Corporation’s Chairman and CEO of Digital Media. “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.”

Mr. Miller continued, “Mike and Jason have demonstrated true leadership in their operational and product guidance, respectively, and I have the utmost confidence in both of them to lead MySpace into its next chapter.”

In a joint statement, Mr. Jones and Mr. Hirschhorn noted:
“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.”

Mr. Van Natta commented:
“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.”

Prior to his role as MySpace COO, Mr. Jones founded and operated several online businesses, including Userplane, a leading provider of tools for online communities such as MySpace. Userplane was acquired in 2006 by AOL, where Jones subsequently served as a senior vice president and focused on social media monetization and also pioneered the distribution of widgets and other technology to Web publishers. He also was founder and CEO of Tsavo Media, an online content and search network developing next-generation publishing platforms and technology services.

Since joining MySpace, Mr. Hirschhorn oversaw all aspects of product development, and previously has led both start-up and established online businesses. He was president of Sling Media, Inc’s Entertainment Group, which created consumer-driven applications and services for the Slingbox device, and was chief digital officer at MTV Networks, where he oversaw the company’s digital media businesses, products and strategies. Hirschhorn joined MTV Networks following the acquisition of his company, Mischief New Media, which provided interactive services to the entertainment industry.

High profile advertising network Federated Media’s Chief Revenue Officer Chas Edwards has resigned, we’ve confirmed, and will shortly be taking a job at Digg with the same title. Thomas Shin, who Digg stole from Yahoo earlier this year, will report to Edwards.

Mike Maser, currently Digg’s Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, will change his title to Chief Strategy Officer. He controls Digg’s marketing, business development, corporate development and community management groups.

This is a big blow for Federated Media. Founder and CEO John Battelle recently announced that he’ll be looking for a replacement to run the company, although he’ll remain active with the business.

Federated Media raised a big round of financing last year that valued the company at $200 million. Oak Investment Partners, which led the round, must be wondering what exactly they invested in.

Many of Federated Media’s partners have left the network. Digg left in 2007, followed by GigaOm last year. TechCrunch parted ways with Federated Media earlier this month.

Edwards will have responsibility for all revenue streams at Digg, which include some revenue from Microsoft (although that deal is largely over) as well as direct sales. The company is making a push towards profitability, they’ve said in past months. That will likely require about twice the reported $8.5 million in revenue that Digg generated in 2008. Edwards will certainly help them get there.

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Less than a week ago MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe still felt secure in his job. Fast forward to today and DeWolfe is out and a new CEO, Owen Van Natta, is starting his first day on the job.

And he’s already got two lieutenants, either of which could easily be the CEO: former AOL exec Mike Jones as COO (he has /mike at MySpace and was one of the first 3,000 members) and Jason Hirschhorn is the new Chief Product Officer. MySpace cofounder and President Tom Anderson, who’s currently leading the product team, is having “discussions” about “assuming a new role in the organization.” Hirschhorn was formerly the Chief Digital Officer at MTV Networks and was most recently the head of Sling Media Entertainment Group. Van Natta, Jones and Hirschhorn are pictured left to right above.

As we said last week, this was more than a simple CEO change. The entire senior executive team has been restructured with outsiders hand picked by News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Digital Media chief Jon Miller. From what we hear they’re done hiring for now. But as Van Natta, Jones and Hirschhorn settle in, expect many more changes down the road.

Those execs that are still left at MySpace are meeting the new team for the first time today (I’d pay good money to listen in on that). Later in the afternoon they’ll lead an all-hands meeting.

The full press release is below.

News Corporation Expands MySpace Management Team

Michael Jones named Chief Operating Officer

Jason Hirschhorn named Chief Product Officer
______________________

Los Angeles, CA, April 27, 2009 – News Corporation today announced an expansion of MySpace’s management team with two key new hires. Michael Jones has been named Chief Operating Officer and Jason Hirschhorn has been named Chief Product Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Jones and Mr. Hirschhorn will be based in Los Angeles and report to MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta.

Jones has founded and operated several online businesses, including Userplane, a leading provider of tools for online communities such as MySpace. Userplane was acquired in 2006 by AOL, where Jones subsequently served as a Senior Vice President and focused on social media monetization and also pioneered the distribution of widgets and other technology to Web publishers. Most recently, he was the founder and CEO of Tsavo Media, an online content and search network developing next-generation publishing platforms and technology services.

Hirschhorn has led both start-up and established online businesses. Most recently he was President of Sling Media, Inc’s Entertainment Group, which created consumer-driven applications and services for the Slingbox device. Previously, he was Chief Digital Officer at MTV Networks, where he oversaw the company’s digital media businesses, products and strategies. Hirschhorn joined MTV Networks following the acquisition of his company Mischief New Media, which provided interactive services to the entertainment industry.

“Michael’s operational insight and knowledge of the social media market will prove to be a valuable asset as we set out to evolve the MySpace product offering,” said Jon Miller, Chief Digital Officer, News Corporation. “From a product perspective, there’s no better choice than Jason, who is highly regarded as an incredibly talented innovator, media executive and leader, all qualities I know will greatly benefit our team and our users.”

“We were attracted to Michael’s unique background in building and operating successful businesses that fall directly in our sweet spot, and I look forward to leveraging his skill set as we further refine and shape the MySpace vision,” said Mr. Van Natta. “Jason’s reputation for creating compelling consumer experiences that leverage the intersection of technology, design and media is unmatched and we’re excited to have him join us.”

“I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to build upon the successes of the company’s founders and am eager to work with Owen and Jon and the rest of the incredible management team at MySpace as we enter this exciting new phase in the company’s already revered history,” said Mr. Jones. Mr. Hirschhorn continued, “MySpace is one of the most alluring innovations of our time and I am honored to collaborate with Tom Anderson and the rest of the MySpace team to take what is already a stellar product into its next evolution.”

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of December 31, 2008 of approximately US$50 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$33 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers and information services; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.

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