Today Myspace sold to Specific Media for $35 million, but the surprising part of the sale is that Justin Timberlake will be taking an ownership stake in the company. In a move reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s partnership with Polaroid, Timberlake will be more than just a name associated with the company: according to Mashable, he will be contributing his vision to Myspace as well. Another report from Mashable says that Myspace’s CEO Mike Jones will be leaving the company after a transition period. Specific Media, an advertising network, plans to focus Myspace on entertainment.

MYSPACE NAMES MIKE JONES CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PROMOTES DUSTIN FINER TO CHIEF OF OPERATIONS

Beverly Hills, CA – Nov. 30, 2010 – Today, Myspace announced that Mike Jones has been promoted from president to chief executive officer, and Dustin Finer has been promoted from Chief People Officer to chief of operations.

As CEO, Jones is responsible for setting the overall direction and strategy for Myspace and will drive the development of the company’s core technology, infrastructure and design. Jones is an internationally recognized technologist and industry visionary with more than 14 years of experience in business management, product development, and marketing.

Prior to joining Myspace, Jones founded and sold several companies, including application platform Userplane, which he led from startup to its acquisition by AOL. He sits on numerous boards within the consumer internet sector, is an active angel investor, and a recognized industry thought leader. Jones holds a Bachelor of Science in international business and marketing from the University of Oregon.

In addition, Myspace also announced that Dustin Finer has been promoted to chief of operations. Since joining Myspace from News Corporation’s Digital Media Group nearly a year ago, Finer has played a key role in aligning the business and organization with the strategy, recruiting top talent, increasing employee communication and recognition, and reigniting the corporate culture as the company’s chief people officer.

In his new role as chief of operations, Finer will now lead business development, customer care and international operations in addition to his previous oversight of human resources, administration and office services, and IT. Finer brings to Myspace significant senior management experience, having previously led various corporate groups at Ascent Media and Gemstar-TV Guide. Finer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and international relations from the University of California and a J.D. from the University of the Pacific in Sacramento.
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Myspace, Inc. is a leading social entertainment destination powered by the passions of fans. Aimed at a Gen Y audience, Myspace drives social interaction by providing a highly personalized experience around entertainment and connecting people to the music, celebrities, TV, movies, and games that they love. These entertainment experiences are available through multiple platforms, including online, mobile devices, and offline events. Myspace is also the home of Myspace Music, which offers an ever-growing catalog of freely streamable audio and video content to users and provides major, independent, and unsigned artists alike with the tools to reach new audiences. The company is headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA and is a division of News Corporation. (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV)

[MySpace PressRoom]

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]

“By matching Tsavo’s media properties and search marketing capabilities with Cyberplex’s network of over 10,000 publishing partners, Cyberplex will offer an unprecedented value proposition to tier one advertising clients and an extremely targeted advertising platform,” stated Cyberplex CEO and President Geoffrey Rotstein. [paidContent]

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.