The social gaming phenomenon may be commonly associated with Facebook - but MySpace seems keen to get its own slice of this growing pie. Asked at the Midem music conference in Cannes whether the site may consider a move in the area, MySpace CEO Owen van Natta, also former COO…

MySpace says it has acquired “certain assets” of cash-poor social music service imeem and it’s moving fast to capitalize on the biggest one: users. Sometime today, imeem’s 16 million-plus users will be redirected to MySpace Music. MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta promises via blog post to move fast to offer…

The shoe has dropped at MySpace and it’s a big one: the News Corp social network is cutting nearly 30 percent of its staff, reducing the domestic staff size to 1,000 from 1,420 as it tries to dial back to a start-up culture—and make money. With no mention of staff…

News Corp digital head Jon Miller and MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta (pictured, right) have been in quiet mode but are appearing at D7, run by siblings AllThingsD and Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS). First up: some “market research” in the form of survey results that showed why people leave MySpace—31…

Music-sharing site Project Playlist just got an instant dose of credibility in the music industry with its new CEO: *MTV Networks* veteran (and MTV co-founder) John Sykes. Sykes is replacing Owen Van Natta, who has joined MySpace. Van Natta will continue as an advisor to Playlist.  Sykes spent more than…

As expected, News Corp (NYSE: NWS) social media flagship MySpace finishes the week with a new CEO: Owen Van Natta. Based in LA, he’ll report directly to Jon Miller, the CEO of digital media and chief digital officer. Van Natta leaves Playlist.com after a brief stay as CEO. Watch this…

Updated: It’s official. *News Corp* has confirmed that Van Natta is MySpace’s new CEO. The full release is embedded after the jump. It will be completely anticlimactic by then but Kara Swisher is reporting—and I believe it to be true—that News Corp (NYSE: NWS). will announce Friday that former rival…

Music social net Project Playlist is still barred by Facebook and MySpace but a deal with EMI Music adds considerably to the startup’s legit music firepower—and drops the number of majors still suing the startup to two. EMI Music is the second major to sign on, following a December deal…

Music and media-sharing site Playlist has named Owen Van Natta as its new CEO. Van Natta is a social media vet, having most recently served as Facebook’s COO and CRO. The Palo Alto, CA-based company also announced that it received an undisclosed investment from Pilot Group and its founding member…

In his MPA Q&A with Fortune’s David Kirkpatrick, Owen Van Natta didn’t offer any further hints about his future plans when he leaves his post as chief revenue officer of Facebook in a few weeks. Mostly, he said magazines should be tapping into some social media function—all the better if…

Owen Van Natta, the chief revenue officer of Facebook who by some accounts was demoted from his earlier position of COO, is leaving the company, reports ATD. Van Natta was one of the key execs in doing the two Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) deals, the first one on the ad network,…

Below is relevant parts of the conference call…not direct quotes, but paraphrased. Updated: The full audio download of the call is here (MP3 file) Kevin Johnson, president for platforms, Microsoft: —Facebook is our largest advertising partner…it is a win, win, and win for us. As Facebook innovates around new types…