Update 2: Rose has now put up the offiical announcement. He writes:
I’d like to update you on the latest change at Digg. After several months of searching, we are excited to announce that Matt Williams will become the CEO of Digg. As you know, I have been the interim CEO, while we looked for the right person, and I will still remain actively involved in the product, but am handing over the day-to-day running of the business to Matt...
Quote from Matt: "The launch of version 4 was a big moment for Digg and I believe in the potential of this new platform. There is so much innovation yet to come — being the best in the world at curating news means solving the information overload we all experience every day. The Digg team has already made great strides in this direction and there is much more ahead. I’m excited to join such a talented team and such a vibrant Digg community."
Update: Kevin Rose has put up a new post on the Digg blog announcing some upcoming changes to the site, but no mention of the hiring of Williams.
Original Article: Digg has reportedly found its new CEO. According to TechCrunch, the company has hired former Amazon General Manager of Consumer Payments Matt Williams to fill the role.
Michael Arrington says Digg Founder Kevin Rose, who has assumed the CEO role since the departure of Jay Adelson earlier this year, will become Digg’s chief architect, which he used to be.
While Arrington claims to have confirmed the news, Digg has not yet made an announcement about hiring Williams – not even a tweet from Rose yet.
Assuming the news is indeed true, Williams gets to take over the company at an interesting time. The new redesign of Digg just launched (announced just after Adelson’s departure), and it is already inspiring some user backlash (the new home page is still being overrun by content from Digg competitor Reddit).
Williams has been with Amazon for 11 years. Before that he founded LiveBid, which was sold to Amazon in 1999.