Chris DeWolfe

Cofounder of Myspace

• Born: 1966
• Place of Birth: Portland, Oregon

Primary Company/Organization: Myspace

Introduction

Chris DeWolfe was the cofounder of the first globally successful social networking site, Myspace. For years it dominated the Internet as the place to be for cyberactive teenagers. It engaged a marketing strategy that took affiliate marketing and social data storage to a new level, largely thanks to DeWolfe, with his background in the world of finance, marketing, and Internet start-ups. He used this experience to assist in the creation of an Internet phenomenon that took the world by storm—so much so that traditional media king Rupert Murdoch bought Myspace. The success of Myspace soldified DeWolfe's place in social networking history, despite Facebook's later dominance.

Early Life

Chris DeWolfe was born in 1966 in Portland, Oregon. His father, Fred, wrote history books; his mother, Brigitte, taught college German. The younger of two boys (with an older brother, Andrew), DeWolfe was fortunate to grow up in a reasonably affluent household and was considered popular during high school. Known for his athleticism, especially his skills in basketball, he graduated from high school in 1984.

DeWolfe moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, from which he graduated with a degree in finance in 1988. After spending a few years in San Francisco, he completed a two-year master's of business administration program, graduating from the University of Southern California in 1997. While attending business school, DeWolfe developed a social networking site plan he called Sitegeist (a play on the German word for “spirit of the times,” Zeitgeist). This school project would eventually provide the foundational logistics for Myspace.

After graduating from college, DeWolfe moved to Pasadena with his future wife, Lorraine Hitselberger. He worked in the credit department of the First Bank of Beverly Hills. In 1999, DeWolfe quit his bank job for a position as the head of marketing for the Internet start-up XDrive. XDrive was a data storage service that offered Internet users online storage. XDrive felt the full brunt of the bursting dot-com bubble, however, and DeWolfe found himself without a job in March 2001.

Life's Work

After his time with XDrive came to an end, DeWolfe decided to begin his own start-up business, ResponseBase, an e-mail marketing company. Former copywriter for XDrive Tom Anderson became one of DeWolfe's early collaborators in the new venture.

The website Myspace was one of DeWolfe's first clients for his new company, which he announced to the world through a press release on June 20, 2001. At that time, Myspace was an online data storage site not dissimilar to XDrive. Myspace was struggling to stay afloat as Internet shares crashed on Wall Street.

DeWolfe decided to purchase the domain name Myspace when the company that owned the website went bankrupt. He paid $5,000 for the name. It would be some time before he did much with the company's domain name, however. He had a reputation in the online world for creating spam marketing. Anderson was known for his interest in online pornography sites. Neither was considered a major player in the online world.

As their company established itself, it moved away from e-mail spam marketing to virtual newsletters and online books. This moved ResponseBase from e-mail marketing to the world of e-commerce, immediately improving the company's reputation. Profits continued to increase, and e-commerce entrepreneurs began to take notice.

ResponseBase came to the attention of eUniverse—a growing online company managing several websites and expanding at a time when many online companies were shrinking—and its owner, Brad Greenspan. ResponseBase was constantly improving, and Greenspan was interested: After his offer to buy the company using eUniverse stock was rejected, Greenspan purchased ResponseBase for $3.3 million. Under eUniverse's tutelage, ResponseBase continued to perform well and saw a major climb in corporate profits.

In 2003, Friendster was a popular online social networking site that enjoyed a broad subscriber base. The idea of offering storage space combined with online chat was proving profitable and had low costs. DeWolfe approached his partners about creating a site similar to Friendster but better, using the domain name he had purchased in 2001, Myspace. Despite the reservations his partner expressed about the strangeness of the domain name, they launched the site on August 15, 2003. As Internet access improved across the United States, so did the popularity of Myspace.

In its early days, Myspace was a platform for musicians to showcase their latest albums, deliver their music to the public without having to negotiate a deal with a recording company, and communicate with fans on a deeper level through feedback and song comments. Both DeWolfe and Anderson had musical aspirations, and relaunching the site as a place for musicians made sense for those goals as well. The site did a good job promoting new bands and attracted significant numbers of Generation Y users. Soon, Myspace began doing double duty as a music storage website and a social networking hub.

Myspace grew its reputation for online music and online chat. User stats continued to improve, and the world of social networking began to dominate the market. In 2006, Myspace was the seventh most popular website in the entire world. After some issues occurred with eUniverse, the parent company became Intermix Media. In July 2005, the popularity, profitability, and mass-media appeal of Myspace eventually piqued the interest of traditional media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's News Corp. dominated the television news industry but had yet to find a firm footing online. Myspace seemed like the perfect acquisition.

After the cofounders sold Myspace to Murdoch in 2005 for $580 million, DeWolfe became the chief executive officer (CEO) and Tom Anderson became the president. Between 2005 and 2008, Myspace saw record web traffic, often beating online giants such as Google. Despite the fact that Myspace surpassed Facebook in user stats in 2009, DeWolfe decided to step down as CEO to pursue other business interests.

In 2011, News Corp. sold Myspace for $35 million to music artist Justin Timberlake and Specific Media. In 2016 Myspace and its parent company were acquired by Time Inc. As of 2024, Myspace still promotes bands and offers users a place to share their music and comment on their favorite songs, but with a drastically reduced user base.

After leaving Myspace, DeWolfe became involved in online gaming, and in 2010 he, along with fellow Myspace alums Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb, founded the video game developer Jam City, where DeWolfe served as CEO into the 2020s. Jam City developed mobile games for entertainment brands such as Harry Potter, Family Guy, and Marvel's Avengers. In 2023, DeWolfe left Jam City to start the video game platform Plai Labs.

Personal Life

After graduating from college, DeWolfe married Lorraine Hitselberger in 1997, whom he had met in business school. The couple moved to Pasadena, California. The marriage appeared to have been an unhappy one from the beginning. DeWolfe began divorce proceedings in 2007 and a long and difficult litigation began, including a restraining order against DeWolfe and proceedings with the Department of Family Services regarding the couple's daughter.

The divorce between DeWolfe and his wife was finalized in 2013. By 2024, DeWolfe was engaged to be married and was the father to another daughter.

Bibliography

Anguin, Julia. Stealing Myspace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America. New York: Random House, 2009. Print. A mixture of facts and author interpretation of the events leading up to the purchase of Myspace by Rupert Murdoch. Often considered the “tell all” book of Myspace.

Loizos, Connie. "A $32 Million Seed Round for Chris DeWolfe’s Next Gaming Biz Defies 2023 Trends." TechCrunch, 19 Jan. 2023, techcrunch.com/2023/01/19/a-32-million-seed-round-for-chris-dewolfes-next-gaming-biz-defies-2023-trends/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.

Foo, Sharin. “Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe.” Time, 8 May 2006, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1975813‗1976769‗1976775,00.html. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.

Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur: How Blogs, Myspace, YouTube, and the Rest of Today's User-Generated Media Are Destroying Our Economy, Our Culture, and Our Values. New York: Crown, 2008. Print. Looks at the downside of the social media phenomenon and addresses the negative associations with Myspace regarding privacy and teen safety, fears addressed publicly by Myspace parents, adding to the controversy of the site.

Kozlowski, Lori. “New Life: How Myspace Spawned a Start-up Ecosystem.” Forbes 15 May 2012. Web. 25 July 2012. Explains how Myspace pioneered change in the social networking world and the ability of one company, no matter how successful, to lay the foundation of change in the business world.

Lusted, Marcia Amidon. Social Networking: My Space, Facebook and Twitter. Edina: ABDO, 2011. E-book. An easy-to-read history of Myspace and how the company changed over time. Discusses the phenomenon of social networking and Myspace's role in establishing the trend.

“Myspace Co-Founder Dewolfe to Step Down.” Reuters, 22 Apr. 2009, www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE53L6YL/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.

Rusli, Evelyn. “A Myspace Founder Builds Again, Buying Gaming Companies.” New York Times 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 25 July 2012. Discusses DeWolfe's involvement with the gaming company MindJolt and its many gaming platforms and acquisitions. Contrasts DeWolfe's success and profitability with Myspace with his choices in the online gaming world.

Vincent, Francis. Myspace for Musicians: The Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Your Music. Boston: Cengage, 2011. Print. Shows how Myspace remained an effective portal for musical entertainment and musicians even after the ascendancy of Facebook. Gives detailed instructions on how to use Myspace to further music-based careers.