News Corp.\'s Chief Digital Officer to Step Down as Company Prepares to Split

By AMY CHOZICK

News Corporation's chief digital officer, Jonathan Miller, will step down, the company announced on Thursday, in the latest example of an executive departing since News Corporation said it would split the publishing business from the rest of the company.

Mr. Miller will leave his post at the end of September but will continue as an outside adviser on digital matters through fall 2013, the company said.

Previously the chairman and chief executive of AOL, Mr. Miller came to News Corporation in 2009 to help manage the company's tech investments and steer its brands into the digital age. But that's easier said than done in an entrenched global company the size of News Corporation.

Initially, Mr. Miller was tasked with turning around MySpace. News Corporation sold the social networking web site for $35 million last June, after purchasing it six years earlier for $580 million. Mr. Miller also helped with the introduction of The Daily, the first iPad-only publication and a passion project for Rupert Murdoch. Last month, News Corporation confirmed that The Daily would lay off nearly a third of its staff members.

Other efforts, like developing YouTube channels and serving on the board of Hulu, a joint venture with News Corporation's Fox Broadcasting, Disney's ABC and Comcast's NBCUniversal, have fared far better.

In a statement, Mr. Miller said “it feels like the right time to exit” and pursue “new ventures that will lead me back into an operational role.”

Mr. Murdoch called Mr. Miller a visionary and said that “as we continue to prepare for our proposed company separation, I respect Jon's desire to return to an operational, entrepreneurial role with a stand-alone company.”

Mr. Miller's departure, first reported by AllThingsD, is the latest in a series of executive changes as News Corporation readies itself for a split.

La st week, David Haslingden, a 20-year News Corporation veteran who most recently served as president of the Fox Networks Group, said he would leave to spend more time with his family in Australia. David Hill, chief executive of Fox Sports, became a senior vice president, a larger role that includes homing in on digital and programming investments globally. Peter Rice was named chairman and chief executive of the Fox Networks Group.

More changes are expected at News Corporation in coming months, including layoffs on the corporate side of some of its smaller businesses like Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.

“Our businesses will continue to strive to be as efficient as they can be,” Chase Carey, News Corporation's chief operating officer, said this month when asked about potential layoffs at Dow Jones.

Amy Chozick is The Times's corporate media reporter. Follow @amychozick on Twitter.