One Levinsohn Succeeds Another at FIM
News Corp. is the third major Web player in two days to shuffle its upper ranks.
In the space of two days, three major Internet content players have introduced major changes at the top. It was only yesterday that Time Warner ousted AOL CEO Jon Miller in favor of a network TV executive and Microsoft promoted ad sales honcho Joanne Bradford to run all of MSN. Now News Corp. is bidding adieu to the person behind its hurried digital expansion of the past two years in favor of someone with the same name but a quite different set of skills.
The company tapped Peter Levinsohn to replace Ross Levinsohn as president of Fox Interactive Media (FIM), News Corp.’s digital subsidiary. No specific reason was given for the latter’s departure, but the incoming Levinsohn was praised for his “ideal” blend of digital media savvy and the ability to work across multiple business lines.
Unlike Ross Levinsohn, who cut his teeth at AltaVista and CBS Sportsline.com, Peter Levinsohn’s roots are not in interactive media, but rather in cross-platform distribution and sales. An 18-year Fox veteran, for the past two years he was president of digital media for the Fox Entertainment Group, during which time Fox says he distinguished himself as a “key architect” of its digital revenue sharing deal with local affiliates and its distribution of primetime series to MySpace.com and MyFoxLocal.com. Before that he oversaw distribution of Fox shows and movies to television, pay-per-view and VOD.
Ross Levinsohn was thanked for his strategic vision and credited with rapidly building a diverse digital media organization. Aside from its flagship MySpace property, FIM operates gaming site IGN, men’s lifestyle property AskMen, FoxNews.com and Fox Sports. User-generated media holdings include Newroo and karaoke site kSolo.com.
The departing Levinsohn came into leadership of FIM through Fox Sports, where he led expansions into Internet, wireless and broadband. Earlier gigs included executive producer roles with AltaVista and CBS Sportsline.com.
Neither Levinsohn was immediately available for comment.
