 "Kim Dotcom steps down as Mega Director, looking at other projects")
Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has now stepped down from his role as Director of Mega, according to Torrent Freak . Dotcom is reportedly looking to clear his schedule to make time for other projects as well as ongoing legal battles and political aspirations. Chief among those plans is the launch of a new music service in the next few months, the details of which are reportedly being kept under wraps.
The Internet entrepreneur has been in the news most recently for launching Mega , a file-storage service, almost a year after the Megaupload founder’s estate was raided . The membership of the new site has since risen to include more than a million users just days after its launch, with the numbers steadily rising in the months that followed.
The report has noted that Mega’s introduction can be marked as one of the most prominent tech launches this year, with the privacy company setting its eyes on expanding much further as time goes by. Despite this recent success, Kim Dotcom has reportedly chosen to move on to other avenues.
Mega Director Kim Dotcom steps down from company
Dotcom’s replacement as Mega’s Director was confirmed by certain filings made last week in the New Zealand Companies Office. Mega’s CEO Vikram Kumar, in an email to BusinessDesk, confirmed that Mega’s founder will be using the time to work on his many other projects.
One of the areas of focus, according to the report, will be Dotcom’s music platform, formerly known as Megabox. The chief difference between Mega and this new music service is that the latter will be operated by a company owned directly by the Internet entrepreneur. Dotcom, talking to TorrentFreak, said that he would drop the Megabox title for a better one but did not expand on what he might be considering next. Dotcom did reveal that he would do away with the “Mega” title for the new music service, which reportedly has 22 developers working on it.
Apart from new business plans, the ex-Mega Director will also be looking at politics as an option. In another conversation with the source, Dotcom said that he has already penned down a draft programme for a new party, and hopes to participate in New Zealand’s elections next year. While talking about this, Dotcom said, “I’m excited about the party and I’m confident that I can help make New Zealand a significant Internet economy player. Someone needs to lead New Zealand into the future. Unfortunately the current government doesn’t know what the future looks like.”
Chief on Dotcom’s mind, according to the report, are the legal battles that his earlier venture, Megaupload, is going through. Several of Megaupload’s employees, including the founder himself, are currently fighting against an extradition request from the US for alleged crimes. The Mega founder’s extradition hearing is currently slotted for November this year, but may reportedly be pushed to April of next year because legal arguments on a number of issues have complicated the case.
