Dressed nattily in a tuxedo, Owen Van Natta glad-handed his way around Grammy weekend parties thrown by Clive Davis and EMI with the composed and confident look of a man firmly in control of his destiny.
Turns out he wasn’t.
Under the impression that he was the one about to squeeze out his MySpace rivals, Van Natta instead was the one who got squeezed, forced out late Wednesday after nine months as CEO of the social-network site by News Corp. digital-media boss Jon Miller. (News Corp. owns both MySpace and The Post.)
Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones were elevated to co-presidents, taking over for Van Natta, effective immediately.
According to four sources with knowledge of how Van Natta’s termination happened, he misplayed his hand by overestimating his relationship with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.
“Owen went after Jon because he thought he had the backing of Rupert, and Jon outmaneuvered him,” said one source close to both men.
News Corp. declined to comment and Van Natta did not return calls.
The friction that developed between Van Natta and Miller was evident right from the beginning.
Just one month after joining News Corp., the duo’s appearance at the All- ThingsD conference underscored their different styles. While neither was fully up to speed on MySpace, Miller addressed issues of culture and morale and reestablishing the MySpace brand.
Van Natta, by contrast, cracked jokes, which led some to think he lacked the seriousness required to execute a turnaround at MySpace.
Van Natta’s ouster marks a stunning setback for the former Facebook and Amazon executive, who has movie-star good looks and who longed for years to be in charge. However, sources said Van Natta never really grasped that he was Miller’s subordinate.
During Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley conference last summer, for instance, Miller was holding an impromptu, off-the-record chat with reporters when Van Natta showed up and abruptly broke up the discussion, telling Miller that the two of them should call it night.
“It was confusing for Owen because it was set up as a peer relationship with Miller, not a direct report, but when things get hostile, you fall back on the organizational chart and Miller outranked him,” said the source close to both men.