WHAT WERE THEY THINKING ??
At the heels of the MySpace announcement that they are cutting 30 percent of their staff to accommodate a more efficient view of the site's future and to bring staffing in line with its Facebook rival, I had to sit back and think .... WTF!?
Where was Rupert? Has he been that distanced from the business of running a business that the oversight of News Corp's major investment ran away with itself?
To suggest, as Jon Miller, the new Digital Officer for News Corp does that their labor pool was "too big considering the realities of today's marketplace" is nothing short of a lame excuse for his predecessor's lack of vision and a complete misread of the fickle markets that make up their user base.
Blame Rupert. By contrast, Miller is a brilliant strategist supported by his turnaround of AOL.
It will be tough sledding, if not impossible, for Miller and the new CEO, Owen Van Natta (39) as they learn to scale the business to meet the falling demand for their network.
And as MySpace fortunes decline, a reciprocal increase in users for Facebook and Twitter take the stage,front and center. Never mind that neither has come up with a business model that turns a profit. They will continue to pile on the users until they become so top heavy with unchecked expenses and debt that the cash burn will ignite the house that Facebook and Twitter built.
These social networks, built in an instant, are the "course du jour" .... until the kids in the garage down the street launch yet another version of the same game by any other name.
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