Scott Sassa, the former CEO of Friendster, the founder and CEO of Uber.com, the social network which recently closed down, and the once president of NBC West Coast, among others, has now joined Hearst Corp as president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, the operating group responsible for Hearst’s interests in cable TV networks including ESPN (NYSE: DIS), Lifetime, A&E and History. He will also become SVP of Hearst Corp. Bruce Paisner, who has served as EVP of the Group, is retiring after 27 years at Hearst and will become a consultant to the company.

Hearst’s Entertainment & Syndication Group also includes Hearst Entertainment, which produces reality programming and distributes Hearst’s TV movie library and King Features Syndicate, a major newspaper syndicator of comics and features. More details in release.