Amazon.com exec to become Digg’s third CEO in six months

It takes just under five months to redesign one of the largest news aggregation sites in the world and bring in a new CEO, apparently.

On the heels of former CEO Jay Adelson’s departure in April, news aggregator Digg will reportedly announce former online retailer Amazon.com executive Matt Williams as its new boss today.

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Founder Kevin Rose ran the company as an interim CEO as the company, known for its crowdsourcing strategy of letting users pick its headlines, overhauled the site to take a more social approach. While some applauded the new site, many users led a typically whimsical revolt in protest of the new design.

Digg has faced a host of problems since the launch of the redesigned website, including having to freeze user submissions to the site — long the core of Digg’s identity — on Monday.

Digg’s also dealt with its fair share of problems aside from the redesign. It cut 10 percent of its staff shortly after Adelson’s departure. And it faced criticism after users and publishers were discovered gaming the site to direct traffic to websites they preferred and creating “Digg armies” to kill stories they did not want to reach the front page.

Williams, the former general manager of consumer payments at Amazon.com, will take the reigns as Rose resumes his role as chief architect of the site, TechCrunch reports.

We’ve reached out to confirm the details and will update as they come in.

[Photo: smemon87]