Los Angeles, CA , June 17, 2010 — We fully respect Jason’s decision to leave and his personal desire to return to New York. As many people know, Jason is like family to me, and as expected, he’s done everything we asked of him and more. We’re incredibly grateful for the passion and enthusiasm he brought to the company. And as I know Jason agrees, Mike Jones has done an outstanding job leading MySpace into its next evolution and is the right person to take the reins. There are no plans to bring in additional management.

[TechCrunch]

Now Millard will be taking over advertising sales at MySpace.  While working for the head of advertising sales at MySpace, she will also remain as the president of median consulting company Media Link. MySpace sales boss Jeff Berman will be leaving the company as Millard joins.

Some of MySpace’s new hires include:
- Jason Hirschhorn as chief product officer
- Mike Jones as COO
- iLike CEO Ali Partovi, President Hadi Partovi, and CTO Nat Brown through an acquisition
- Katie Geminder as SVP of user experience and design
- Mike Macaadan as VP of Product

Below is the full press release of the announcement:

Hi everyone,

I want to share some thoughts about our advertising product strategy and give you an update on the structure of our sales organization.

In the last three months we’ve focused our attention on restructuring the business, refocusing the MySpace user experience, and hiring some talented people particularly in the technology and product organization. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in these areas and now want to focus on ensuring we have the best advertising product, sales strategy, and team in the market.

MySpace has always been a leader in the social media advertising space. Maintaining our leadership position requires that we foster the perfect balance between content and commerce. With this in mind, I’m pleased to announce that we are bringing a new partner into our global organization. Please join me in welcoming to the MySpace team, Media Link – a top media representation and strategic advisory firm founded by Michael Kassan and whose clients have included Microsoft, AT&T, Unilever, Home Depot, and Colgate-Palmolive. Michael is an internationally recognized leader operating at the intersection of the media, advertising, and entertainment industries. He’s the founder and managing principal of Media Link and acts as an advisor to many of the Fortune 100’s best-of-breed global brands

Media Link will be focusing on two primary objectives. First, the firm will provide guidance as we reconfigure our ad products to meet the current needs of the marketplace. As a key strategic advisor and partner, they’ll provide us with an external perspective on the larger advertising market as well as insight into what top clients (and those we’re looking to attract) are asking for.

Second, as part of this process on an interim basis the firm will help manage our day-to-day sales organization under the leadership of Wenda Harris Millard. Many of you know and have worked with Wenda in the past and for those who haven’t she’s truly an internet advertising pioneer. Her reputation on Madison Avenue is unmatched and after holding executive sales posts at Ziff Davis, Yahoo, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia she recently joined Media Link as President.

After more than three years of managing a highly diverse set of responsibilities at MySpace including content and sales roles, Jeff Berman has decided to explore other opportunities. During his tenure at MySpace, Jeff brought leadership to our sales organization and built an incredible team with expertise across every advertising vertical. I appreciate all the support that Jeff has given the new management team and look forward to welcoming new sales talent to compliment the tremendous group we currently have in place. We wish Jeff the best in his future plans.

Within our sales team, we have a deep bench of talent responsible for managing one of the most dynamic advertising platforms on the Web. I’d to like recognize the sales team for their hard work and dedication in creating meaningful ad solutions for our roster of advertisers.

Our senior sales team (in alpha order) includes:
· Chris Carlson – Regional Vice President of the Mid West
· Angela Courtin – SVP Marketing, Entertainment, Content
· Shari Friedman – Vice President of Entertainment Sales
· Mitchell Kreuch – Regional Vice President of East Coast Sales
· Abe Thomas – VP of Online Marketing
· Valeh Vakili – SVP Sales Strategy and Operations
· Sam Wick – SVP of Strategy for MySpace Music
· Andy Wiedlin – Regional Vice President of West Coast Sales

I appreciate your dedication and focus on delivering for our advertising partners during the last few months. I hope you’re as excited as I am to take our sales organizations to the next level.

“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,” stated Jon Miller, Chief Digital Officer of 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.”

Miller is the former head of AOL which is where he most likely met Jones for the first time.  I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time that News Corporation will poach executives from AOL.  MySpace founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are still negotiating other leadership roles within News Corporation.

News Corporation has also hired Jason Hirschhorn as the new Chief Product Officer of MySpace.   Hirschhorn was President of Sling Media Group before attaining this position.