The ousting of Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson at the top of the MySpace hierarchy underscores tumult not just at MySpace but also for its peers, says USA Today's Jon Swartz. Facebook, too, has suffered "a brain drain," Swartz says, as it takes bigger steps towards going public. For example, CFO Gideon Yu abruptly left the company earlier this month. "When you're around five years (as MySpace and Facebook have been), the pressure to monetize intensifies," says Caroline Dangson, research analyst at IDC. "It's already a horrible time for established businesses to make money during the recession. The assumption was …

Microsoft reported the first quarterly drop in revenue in its history on Thursday, also falling short of analysts' expectations. The software giant posted net income of $2.98 billion, down a hefty 32% from the $4.4 billion recorded during the first quarter last year. However, this included a 6 cents per share one-time charge due to severance payments and investment impairments. Revenue fell 6% to $13.65 billion, from $14.45 billion a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue or $14.1 billion. Microsoft's previous worst year-over-year performance was a 0.7% increase in revenue in 2000. Relatively speaking, the company's online services division fared …

Joost, the online video startup powered by P2P technology, is putting itself on the block, and Time Warner Cable is among the interested buyers, CNet reports. Sources claim that Joost has been actively seeking a buyer, telling cable and satellite companies that it could be their online video solution. They also claim that Time Warner Cable is one of the companies that has expressed interest, although neither TWC nor Joost would comment. As CNet's Greg Sandoval notes, "Joost is a story of missed opportunities, bad luck, and the folly of thinking whiz-bang technology alone is enough to forge a winning …

The Society of Digital Agencies, a new organization, expects digital shops to grow 8% this year. As part of its inaugural 2009 digital marketing outlook report, the organization found that just 10% of digital shops expect a decrease in digital projects this year, while about 30% expect spending to remain roughly the same. Traditional shops were even more bullish about digital projects, with nearly 70% expecting increases. However, the agencies surveyed noted that clients are hesitant to commit to large projects. They are cautious that the economic situation could worsen, says Paul Lewis, director of operations for SoDA, forcing even …

According to various reports across the Web, Owen Van Natta will be named MySpace Chief Executive later today. Michael Arrington argues that while Van Natta -- with a background in social networking, music/media and the Internet in general -- definitely has the experience to run the Web's second largest social network, "his hiring is leaving many scratching their heads nonetheless." For starters, the former Facebook VP of Operations still owns a significant chunk of stock in that company. He's also "intimately knowledgeable" about their business operations. "At the very least it's bad form for him to join Facebook's primary competitor," …

Peter Kafka on Wednesday reported that Projejct Playlist CEO Owen Van Natta is the frontrunner to succeed Chris DeWolfe as MySpace CEO. Citing "multiple sources close to the situation," Kafka's colleague Kara Swisher says the deal to bring Van Natta in as CEO "is still coming together now," and that "settling all the specifics could take at least a day and there is always the possibility that this changing-of-the-guard deal could fall apart." Van Natta, of course, is the former VP of Operations for Facebook, and "was a key early player in making the social-networking site into the juggernaut …

A Swedish national radio station on Wednesday claimed that the judge who sentenced the Pirate Bay's co-founders to a year in prison was also a member of a pro-copyright group that several of the main entertainment industry representatives in the case also belong to. Sveriges Radio's P3 news program said Judge Thomas Norstr"m is signed up to the Swedish Copyright Association (Svenska f"reningen f"r upphovsrätt), which also counts three representatives of the entertainment industry from the case as members. Additionally, the station revealed that Norstr"m also sits on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property, …

Bloomberg reports that Hulu.com, the joint music venture from News Corp. and NBC Universal, is in talks with the major record labels about launching music video service that would rival Google's YouTube, citing four people with knowledge of the situation. The major record labels are EMI Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, which is also partnering with YouTube on its music video venture, Vevo.com. Earlier this month, Universal and YouTube said that Sony, EMI and Warner have all been asked to join their service, too. With regard to the Hulu music video venture, all parties …