Jon Miller Officially Named CEO of News Corp Digital Media

With newly created title of CEO, the ex-AOL chief will oversee expanded role of digital in all areas of the business.

Jon Miller, the former CEO of AOL, was officially named by News Corp on April 1 to fill the newly created title of CEO of Digital Media, as predicted by TheWrap last week. He will be in charge of Internet and mobile businesses and report to Rupert Murdoch in New York City.

Peter Levinsohn, who has served as president of News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media since 2006 — overseeing MySpace, Photo Bucket and IGN — will return to the studio for a signficant role in helping both the TV and movie sectors of the studio, while shaping its digital future.

As Digital Media CEO, Miller will not only oversee the three web properties but will help the company build its overall digital strategy.
 

Miller was ousted by AOL in November 2006, after joining the company in 2002. A number of his strategies while at the company were considered failures, including efforts to generate high-profile content and get subscribers to convert from dial-up to AOL high-speed access.

 

Just around the time he left the company, however, Time Warner’s third-quarter numbers had AOL showing a 46 percent increase in advertising sales. He also worked for the National Basketball Association and ran the Internet business side of USA Networks while Barry Diller was in charge.

 

In a statement announcing the move, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said: "Our focus moving forward is twofold: to enable our digital businesses to flourish as individual entities and to bolster the digital strategies of our core media properties by treating them as central to, and not separate from, the enterprise. With his strong background in media and entertainment, coupled with a deep understanding of the digital business, Jon Miller is — hands down — the best equipped executive to provide the vision, oversight and operational experience to truly transform our offerings.”

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