Former MySpace (NSDQ: NWS) co-president Jason Hirschhorn has been named to the new board of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, marking another stop on one of the media business’ more unpredictable but interesting career arcs.
Hirschhorn is one of nine directors who will steer the course of the trouble company when it emerges from bankruptcy next month, according to court documents first reported by BusinessWeek.
Hirschhorn will likely help MGM capitalize on digital rights to a voluminous library of classic films including the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises. That could bring in new revenues at a time when there are a multiplying number of potential dealmakers including Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX), Hulu and YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), which recently emerged as a viable buyer given reports of negotiations to license from Miramax’s library.
Hirschhorn has spent the last 10 years operating at the new-media wings of old-media companies. He exited MySpace in June after a little more than a year at the News Corp.-owned company, where he was instrumental in repositioning the troubled venture from a traditional social network to a social-entertainment site. Previous to MySpace, he formed an entertainment group at Sling Media, which he left in January 2009, about a year after the company was acquired by Echostar (NSDQ: SATS). He was MTV Networks’ first chief digital officer for the first half of the decade.
Hirschhorn will be joined by former CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) CEO Fredric Reynolds, as well as three representatives from MGM’s biggest creditors. MGM’s incoming co-CEOs, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, will also sit on the board. That leaves two empty seats to be named, one of which will be selected by Carl Icahn.

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