Scape Boss Dropped

[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Just over six months after his appointment, Scape managing director Ken Manning has announced his resignation from the Village Ten Internet portal Scape, amid rumors that design firm Razorfish has been dropped from the project.

Staff were told that Manning had resigned, however sources indicate that he was pushed rather than jumped. Manning was previously head of Razorfish, the design company which created the site. Manning joined Scape in May this year to launch the brand into the Australian market and to develop “a diverse content offering across a variety of delivery platforms.” The portal has met with significant criticism of its functionality and speed since its launch in October, causing tension regarding the company’s contract with Razorfish, an arrangement which has meant site changes must be implemented by the Web developer.

In his previous position as director of client strategy at Razorfish, Manning controlled San Francisco & Silicon Valley projects for Razorfish and played an developed digital strategies for clients such as Acer, McKinsey, Cisco, Segasoft, Excite and Intel.

Scape referred media enquiries to Ten representatives, who were unavailable for comment.