Confirmed: Travis Katz Remains at MySpace as International Head (Though With 66.7 Percent Less Staff)
by Kara Swisher
Posted on June 23, 2009 at 6:50 PM PT
Earlier today, there was an odd little news kerfuffle around the status of MySpace international head Travis Katz, as the troubled social-networking site laid off 300 of its non-U.S. employees.
Last week, MySpace announced it was reducing its U.S. staff by 420 workers, in what has been a major restructuring for the News Corp. (NWS) unit.
Both TechCrunch and Media Week initially reported Katz was “out” in the shake-up. Then an update by TechCrunch later said he “may still be at the company” and, after that, said, “sources at MySpace are saying that Katz will remain with MySpace and that ‘his role hasn’t changed.’ The company will still not respond to an on-the-record request for comment about Katz.”
Well, to clear up the is-he-is-or-is-he-ain’t question, as a longtime practitioner of non-“process” journalism–which some bloggers have been calling posting information, right or wrong, as a story develops–it turns out Katz is definitely not leaving in the current shake-up.
I easily managed to reach Katz and other top MySpace execs by phone and email and they all confirmed on the record that he remains international head.
“I [am] still around in the same job,” wrote Katz from London.
Of course, it is a much different job with an obviously decimated staff–an organization that Katz was key to building over the last several years. Indeed, the changes today are clearly tough for everyone there.
But, although sticking around long term seems unlikely, Katz is still at MySpace–at least for the moment.
Here’s a video interview I did with Katz back at the end of 2007, when he was about two years into his job.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
