Owen Van Natta to be Next MySpace CEO

Speculation has run rampant the last few days as to who would be assuming the helm of MySpace. Current CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe has been rumored to be on the way out as advanced talks with his replacement were well underway.

Kara Swisher at AllThingsD today reports that according to her sources, the former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta will be assuming command of the current reigning social network.

Although hardcore Web 2.0 pundits will likely be portraying this as a move by FIM owned MySpace to capture some of that Facebook mojo and become relevant again, but as the legions hardcore pro-MySpace commenters who used to decry that sentiment when I expressed it at Mashable will tell you, the MySpace community is still alive and well.

Depending on which perception is reality, though, is the deciding factor on whether his leadership is truly a rejuvenating force, or if it’s as ineffective as when Google’s own CIO Douglas Merill left to join dying music giant EMI.