Posted on March 31, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Filed under: Movers & Shakers
Tagged: AOL , Jonathan Miller , News Corp. , Rupert Murdoch , Time Warner

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So what would be on Jonathan Miller's agenda should he become the chief digital adviser to News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) Rupert Murdoch? Reports began circling Friday that the former chief executive of AOL and co-founder of the venture capital firm Velocity Interactive will be appointed this week to the newly created role of chief digital officer for Murdoch's media empire.

One question is which of News Corp's digital properties would Miller oversee. The company's holdings are varied, ranging from the social networking site MySpace to Fox Interactive Sports to the online video joint venture Hulu with partner NBC Universal Inc.

What we do know is that Miller is more a strategy guy than an operational guy. He led several strategic initiatives during his four-year tenure at AOL, including convincing his Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TW) bosses to give away AOL content and start selling advertising to generate revenue.

With that in mind, it's a good bet that Miller would focus on high-level strategic development governing a range of properties, with perhaps some operational input on the most promising, such as MySpace. The networking site, while profitable, isn't growing as fast at rival Facebook, so adding new applications or maybe even overhauling the business model could be on the agenda. And considering the company's digital properties have piled up relatively quickly, Miller could explore ways to leverage and integrate all that acquired technology.

And what about M&A? As we've reported previously, for an old media titan, News Corp's Murdoch has been willing to plunge headlong into the digital darkness, paying top dollar for online assets long before it was cool. Combine that with Miller's record of transformational inititives, and a little shopping, even in a challening M&A environment, is a definite possibility. - Suzanne Stevens 

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