• by Tanya Gazdik , April 22, 2009

News Corp., owner of MySpace, confirmed late Wednesday that Chris DeWolfe, the social network's co-founder and CEO, will step down. His replacement has not been named.

The company said the decision was made by mutual agreement with former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller, who was appointed News Corp.'s chief digital officer April 1. DeWolfe will remain on the board of MySpace China and will be a strategic adviser to the company. Co-founder Tom Anderson is also in talks about taking a new role, Miller said.

"Chris and Tom are true pioneers," Miller said in a statement. "Thanks largely to their vision, MySpace has become a vibrant creative community with 130 million passionate followers worldwide." A new management structure will be announced in the "near future," Miller said.

Anderson is being considered for a creative product role that will take him away from his day-to-day responsibilities, said a person with knowledge of the situation, according to The Associated Press.

Owen Van Natta, Facebook's former chief revenue officer, is a contender for the top job at MySpace, according to a Los Angeles Timesreport.

Van Natta left Facebook in February 2008, and became CEO of ProjectPlaylist, an interactive music streaming site. His name was mentioned last year as one of the finalists to run MySpace Music, a job that ultimately went to MTV Networks executive Courtney Holt.