Detailed Notes From CEO Armstrong’s All-Hands Meeting for AOL Staff Today
by Kara Swisher
Posted on May 29, 2009 at 4:24 PM PT
After officially announcing that AOL was going to be spun off yesterday, Tim Armstrong, the CEO of the Time (TWX) Warner online unit, held an all-hands meeting for employees today.
BoomTown reported the details of the new structure of AOL yesterday, which Armstrong discussed at the gathering.
Here is a quick synopsis of the meeting, which included a focus on content, advertising and making AOL’s acquisitions work better via a new venture unit.
Several employees I spoke to said Armstrong–who was a former top Google (GOOG) advertising exec, which–not surprisingly–seems to be a strong influence on him–did a good job.
Staffers said they were glad for the vision that Armstrong displayed, which some at the company think has been lacking in recent years.
Here’s a rundown of several key points:
The Google-ization of advertising: AOL’s Platform-A, including its valuable Advertising.com unit, will focus on many more customers, rather than a few big ones.
That includes having more of a self-service model, more like Google.
Content is king: Armstrong stressed content, which comes from AOL’s MediaGlow content unit, run by Bill Wilson.
Content will be a key focus at AOL, which has been investing heavily in media sites over the last several years.
Sink-or-swim start-ups: AOL’s acquisitions–such as the overpriced Bebo social networking unit–have to live and die on their own in a new AOL Ventures Group.
Some will be spun out and some will be sold, but all have to survive by their wits.
Internet company values: Compensation, which has been hindered by Time Warner’s ownership, will be based on how Web companies compensate.
That means stock options and equity, but also more risk and innovation on the part of employees.
Comments
“That means stock options and equity, but also more risk and innovation on the part of employees”
This is Code for cutting costs with lower salaries and offsetting with stock options that supposedly will be worth a lot. AOL is not Google and will never see the stock soar the way Google’s did.
The spin-off is nice if you are TWX or Armstrong with a pile from Google and a sweet play me or pay me deal with AOL. His risk is only to his ego.
Everyone else is taking the risks.
Posted by Henry Spitzer at May 29th, 2009 at 5:16 pmI think that the AOL brand is so tainted that there is no hope.
Posted by Dave Barnes at May 29th, 2009 at 8:34 pm“Suicide is painless”.
I think this brand name survivor has a great opportunity with low expectations. Depending on what’s included plus their financials.
Posted by Jeff Stevens at May 31st, 2009 at 6:28 amEarthlink has proven their is still a market for paid access.
Motley Fool has shown they can live playing small.
TMZ shows that AOL can produce successful products and it’s a TV portal to cross generations.
They also have email spam under control.
As the flashy players like Twitter and Facebook try not to become the next Myspace, and MSFT and YHOO look for their identity, smaller brands can pick and choose based on economics.
All of Tim’s efforts are in vain. AOL can’t even keep their email system running.
I have owned an email address on the compuserve.com domain for years. I keep it, and pay $10/month for the privilege, because a) everyone knows me by this email address and b) for nostalgia sake. AOL migrated everyone off their “CompuServe Classic” structure a couple of weeks ago (this infrastructure has been running without a hiccup since the 80s), and we’ve been having problems with mail reliability ever since. Mind you, those of us on this platform have stuck with AOL through thick-and-thin for years. And they can’t even keep email working. AOL – the new GM.
Posted by Steve Zinn at June 1st, 2009 at 9:01 am