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Owen Van Natta, the top choice for taking the top spot at MySpace, has been confirmed as the new CEO for the still-popular social network. As the former COO of Facebook, Van Natta has a great deal of experience in being an executive at a large online social network. But the new position comes with a bit of controversy, given Van Natta’s former position at Facebook, the fact that he still owns a sizable amount of Facebook stock and the trouble he may have with his new team over at MySpace.
Not only is he taking on a team that has been working with MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson for some time, as Kara Swisher mentions. But the stepping down of Anderson and Chris DeWolfe as MySpace executives has left a bad impression on many in the business world, as they wonder what will happen to MySpace, if it’s still a powerhouse social network, and where the company will go from here.
(cc) Brian Solis
Nick O’Neill over at AllFacebook brings up an interesting point in noting Van Natta’s stock in Facebook, and short time period between leaving Facebook and joining MySpace. This could create a major conflict of interest for Van Natta as MySpace and Facebook are direct competitors. O’Neill wonders if Van Natta had a non-compete agreement with Facebook at all, which would be rather typical for an executive leaving a company (especially one as prominent at Facebook).
While it’s not all together unheard of in the business world (executive poaching is big business in and of itself), Internet-based startups typically have non-compete agreements, particularly when stock is involved. No details have been released regarding Van Natta’s departure agreement with Facebook, but the move from Facebook to MySpace is an interesting change in direction from the trend we’ve been seeing these past four years. Though Facebook has been having trouble retaining its talent, we haven’t seen much of that talent jumping ship to MySpace. While Van Natta did work at Project Playlist between Facebook and MySpace, Van Natta’s move is quite indicative of the executive shuffle trend that occurs when a company has seemingly peaked, and when another needs a major overhaul.
No matter which way you slice it, Van Natta has his work cut out for him.