Shakeup at Digg as CEO Resigns

Jay Adelson resigned unexepctedly as Digg's CEO on Monday. He is being replaced by Kevin Rose, who founded the site back in 2004.

In a brief prepared statement, Adelson said that "the entrepreneurial calling is strong, and I am ready to incubate some new business ideas over the next twelve months."

The company, once considered one of the hottest Internet properties around, has lost some luster the last couple of years. A couple of years ago, there were reports that Digg had hired investment bank Allen & Co to find a buyer. The asking price reportedly was reduced from an initial $300 million and later, the company went through layoffs.

The blog, GigaOm suggested that the managerial move signaled a "deeper commitment to the company by Rose." Rose has had interests as an angel investor in other companies, including Gowalla and Foursquare.

Jay Adelson Statement

Got some news. After five years, forty million users, and an amazing ride, I've decided to step down as CEO of Digg. With the new Digg getting ready to launch, Digg Ads doing well, our sales force growing, our hiring ramping, and the company maturing well beyond its startup phase, I feel that now is the right time.

The entrepreneurial calling is strong, and I am ready to incubate some new business ideas over the next twelve months. As the economy exits a very deep recession, I believe that it is an excellent time for new companies to develop. Of course, I will continue to serve as an adviser to Digg. In the interim, Kevin has agreed to step in as Chairman and CEO.

I'd like to thank Kevin, the Digg staff and the Digg community for their support, insight and, most of all, their loyalty in turning Digg into the force that it is today.

Kevin Rose Statement

I want to be the first to thank Jay for the last five years of amazing work. You've been a great friend and mentor, we wouldn't be where we are today if it wasn't for you.

While I'll miss working w/Jay day-to-day I am excited to be taking on the role of Chairman and acting CEO, driving Digg forward on our promise to enable social curation of the world's content and the conversation around it. We've been super busy on the product side getting ready for the upcoming Digg redesign and delivering our mobile apps for the iPhone and Android.

Thank you very much for your on-going support of Digg, I'm truly excited about the next five years, big things coming!