Sunday, November 22, 2009
Meet the New AOL Logo: “Aol.” (Plus the Press Release)
The new AOL will differ than the old one in several ways: New boss, smaller headcount, different owners. So, of course, it also gets a new–but awfully familiar–logo.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
AOL: We Need to Fire 2,500 “Volunteers”
AOL, which has already told investors it will spend up to $200 million firing a good chunk of its staff, has now told employees. The company is looking for “up to 2,500 volunteers,” CEO Tim Armstrong told his staff today. That’s a third of AOL’s payroll.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Google Makes AOL’s Turnaround Task Even Harder
Little by little, AOL is offering investors more and more details about what the company will look like after it spins off from Time Warner. But the more AOL discloses, the less attractive the company looks. The newest problem: AOL’s steady flow of Google money is going away.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Meet AOL’s BOD: Tim Armstrong May Be Youthful, but His Directors-To-Be Aren’t
AOL continues to prep for its impending spinoff from Time Warner. Today’s step: Announcing the board of directors for the company-to-be. Boldface names of note include William Hambrecht, former head of tech investment bank Hambrecht & Quist; Michael Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; and Jim Wiatt, former head of William Morris. Notably absent: Anyone from Google, Tim Armstrong’s favorite recruiting ground, and any whippersnappers, unless you count 46-year-old Powell.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Microsoft Says It’s Done Buying Search. Writing Big Checks for Search? Different Story.
Steve Ballmer says he doesn’t expect to do much search-related M&A, which makes sense since there’s little left to buy. But he may be willing to pay for search. Ask AOL.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Time Warner’s $4.2 Billion AOL Fire Sale
Google marked down AOL’s value from $20 billion to $5.5 billion earlier this year. That’s still too high, argues a JP Morgan analyst.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
AOL’s Google Reunion Grows Yet Again: Former YouTube Ad Guy Shashi Seth Joins Up
Of course, Time Warner’s AOL has hired yet another Google veteran. That’s what the company does under the Tim Armstrong regime. Today’s example: Shashi Seth, the one-time “monetization” boss at YouTube, who was most recently running sales at Cooliris. His new job: Senior vice president of global advertising products, reporting to Armstrong’s lieutenant (and Google vet, natch) Jeff Levick.
Monday, September 21, 2009
AOL: More Org Chart Shuffles Coming; So Are Ad Dollars. But Mum on Microsoft.
CEO Tim Armstrong says he’s still overhauling the Internet company in advance of its spinoff from Time Warner, but he has hopeful noises to make about ad sales. He has nothing, however, to say about chats with Microsoft.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Another AOL Org Chart Shuffle: COO Partoll, Search Boss Kannapell Out
This isn’t the long-rumored round of mass layoffs, but AOL boss Tim Armstrong did let go of two executives today: COO Kim Partoll is out, as is John Kannapell, SVP of search and local media.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Google Still Shuffling Sales Force: “Self-Serve” Exec David Fischer Steps Aside
Five months after Google sales boss Tim Armstrong left for AOL, his old company is still reshaping its sales group. The latest move: David Fischer, who ran the company’s core self-serve ad business, is going on sabbatical later this month and will return to a different post. Newish sales boss Nikesh Arora says he hasn’t found a successor for Fischer and will step into his shoes in the meantime.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
AOL, Still Shaking Up Staff, Hires New CFO Artie Minson
Newish AOL CEO Tim Armstrong hasn’t gone on a massive firing binge. But he’s still shaking up the ranks at the Time Warner unit. Today, for instance, he is installing a new chief financial officer: Artie Minson, the deputy CFO at sister company Time Warner Cable. Minson replaces Nisha Kumar, who held the spot for two years.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Another Google Sales Guy Gone: Doubleclick Veteran Rutledge Lands at PubMatic
Another Google sales exec has left the building: Andrew Rutledge, who has been running publisher sales for Google’s DoubleClick unit for the last year, has taken the same job at PubMatic, an ad optimization start-up.
Friday, June 5, 2009
When Barry Met Tim, and Jon and Rupert
New York’s Internet Week featured party after party, attended by the same group of Webby movers, shakers and hustlers gulping down drinks and snacks, night after night. The finale: A rooftop gathering in midtown Manhattan that hosted a large number of the digital media’s movers and shakers, plus their bosses, including Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, Tim Armstrong and Jon Miller. Here’s the video.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
More Tim Armstrong Fallout: Departures at Google, AOL
More ripple effects from Tim Armstrong’s departure from Google to run AOL for Time Warner: Tom Phillips, Google’s director of search and analytics, is out. No word on whether he has a new job lined up, but he apparently won’t be joining Armstong and former Googler Jeff Levick at AOL. Still, the chatter is that Armstrong will bring over more Google vets before he’s done making over his team.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time for AOLers to Meet Their New Sales Boss, Again
Kara Swisher broke the story last night, but for the record, here’s the AOL press release announcing the Time Warner unit’s umpteenth new sales boss. Meet Jeff Levick, a Google vet who replaces Yahoo vet Greg Coleman, who just started in February.
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About Peter
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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