Is Jason Calacanis to leave the helm of Weblogs Inc., to head up a Web 2.0 version of Netscape that looks and smells like Digg?
Paid Content seems to think so:
The storied Netscape.com will be revived again by AOL, and will relaunch soon as a Digg-like user-driven news/aggregation site with Jason Calacanis at the helm, sources have told paidContent.org. Some Netscape-Calacanis rumors first surfaced on SV gossip site Valleywag.
The original Netscape division has been more than decimated over the last few years and layoffs have been almost routine these last few months. The new Netscape.com will be headed by Calacanis, who came in through AOL’s acquisition of Weblogs Inc. Not clear what role Weblogs, Inc.’s blogs would play but both divisions would report in Calacanis, according to the sources. He already reports to Jim Bankoff, executive VP of Programming & Products, who would also oversee the Netscape.com changes.
It will be interesting to see how a nearly dead Web 1.0 brand, although one which in its day was the web, can be revived as a Web 2.0 portal, particularly with Jason Calacanis at the helm. Calacanis was asking recently about customising browsers, so expect to see the Netscape Browser itself play a significant role in this, not just the Netscape.com portal.
