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And Finally
Former MTV chief who failed to buy MySpace says he’s “smiling”
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 1 July 2011
It’s widely accepted that when MTV co-founder Tom Freston stepped down as CEO of Viacom, the media conglom which by then owned the music TV network, in 2006, it was because of disagreements with the media firm’s Chairman and majority shareholder Sumner Redstone.
Legend has it that the biggest squabble between the two execs came about because of Freston’s failure to buy MySpace the previous year, which rivals New Corp had snapped up for a mere $580 million. Redstone, the story goes, believed acquiring MySpace was MTV’s chance to get a head start in the then emerging social media space, which threatened to steal the music network’s core audience.
As News Corp sold MySpace yesterday, for over half a billion less than it paid for it, the New York Times gave Freston a call. He didn’t say much, but did confirm he was “smiling at the news of an impending MySpace sale” for such a relatively small amount. According to Billboard, Freston told CNBC earlier this year: “I’m still waiting for a thank-you note [from Redstone]”.
