

MySpace’s Tom Gets $500k Per Year to Stop Coming to Work - empone
http://mashable.com/2009/06/23/myspace-tom-deal/

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icey
This looks like a slow severance to me.

In exchange for his salary reduction, he agrees to not close his profile and
remain an "ambassador" to the service? If you ask me, it just sounds like
they're trying to keep some decent PR going in the face of some serious
adversity.

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empone
This seems like bad PR considering all the people they have fired.

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icey
I would venture to guess the average MySpace user has no idea about the people
they have fired. They'd certainly notice if something happened to Tom though.

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code_devil
You seem to be correct, they can't replace Tom as the default friend. They'll
have to do something really clever for that to happen ...

The other day I was talking to my friend and she was telling me that facebook
suck's because it does not support layout changes and allows auto music play
as soon as you load the page. So, in the process I told her about the layoffs
and Facebook has crossed over Myspace in terms of monthly visits... she was
totally surprised.

~~~
rms
>they can't replace Tom as the default friend.

They could make it Rupert Murdoch!!!

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staunch
> _...what became the world’s top social network, only to see it lose its edge
> under News Corp._

I think it's fair to blame acquirers in many cases, but based on MySpace's
history they may have done better under News Corp than they would have done
independently.

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robryan
I don't think the founders would be to concerned, they made there millions.

It wouldn't have done much better solo unless they had seriously changed there
engineering and removed all the backwards compatability.

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moe
Talk about out-of-this-world salaries...

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moe
Just curious, why did I get downvoted for that?

Yes, it was snarky but how are these salaries ($7.5mio and $500k) not out of
this world? I'm not after myspace in particular here.

~~~
moe
So, as my question also gets downvoted I can only guess I touched a sore point
anyhow. Too bad none of the downvoters feels obliged to explain how such
salaries are justified. Especially in a company that is currently writing off
in the billions.

~~~
byrneseyeview
I didn't downvote you, but given that Tom is a name and profile recognized by
millions of people, the fact that he's paid such a small amount to stick
around is surprising. Other than that, NWS is a private company. If you think
they're overpaying people, short the stock, bank your profits, and use that as
proof that you know more than Rupert Murdoch about how to run a media company.

~~~
moe
Well, thanks for at least providing some insight into that mindset.

The "small amount" part (wrt 500k annual) is what I just don't get into my
head. I doubt that millions of people care about Tom. I doubt that myspace
would lose upwards of 500k per year if he went away. But you are ofcourse
right, I am not Rupert Murdoch and my observation that myspace is tanking is
merely from the frog perspective.

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omouse
Well, after the Casual Friday incident it makes sense...

