MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe will step down from his position at the social networking firm and become a strategic advisor to the company.

No exact date was given for DeWolfe's departure, although News Corporation's chief digital office, Jonathan Miller, said it was to be "in the near future". News Corporation bought MySpace for $580m (£332.85m) in 2005.

Miller said DeWolfe was stepping down by "mutual agreement".

No reason was given for the decision but reports of a management restructure at MySpace have been circulating for a long time. While MySpace now boasts 130 million users worldwide, its main rival Facebook is beating the site by around 80 million.

Miller confirmed the new management structure will be shortly announced. He also added he was in talks with MySpace president, Tom Anderson, about him "assuming a new role in the organisation".

23 Apr 2009