AOL - FishbowlNY

Cyndi Stivers Named Editor-in-Chief of AOL.com

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:46:40 +0000

Cyndi Stivers is joining AOL as editor-in-chief of AOL.com. Stivers most recently served the same role for Columbia Journalism Review. She has previously held senior editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York and Premiere.

In a note announcing the hire, Chris Grosso, senior vice president and general manager of AOL Homepages, wrote, “As we evolve AOL.com as a content destination, we will look to Cyndi to ensure the site showcases the most compelling stories relevant to our viewers and drive a distinctive editorial voice. We’ll also be relying on her creativity to help us ignite our live programming and add more opportunities for visitors to engage with each other around our content.”

Stivers starts at AOL early next month.

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Morning Media Newsfeed: Daily News Layoffs | News Corp. Soars | AOL Revenue Up

Mona Zhang — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:35:14 +0000

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Pink Slips For A Dozen-Plus Daily News Staffers (Capital New York)
The New York Daily News is now undergoing what employees of the tabloid have been fearing for weeks: Multiple insiders tell Capital that layoffs hit the newsroom Wednesday. FishbowlNY Two veterans of the paper — Albor Ruiz and Joanna Molloy — were among those let go. Ruiz had been with the Daily News for 19 years; Molloy for 15. Other names in the bunch include Christina Boyle and Robert Gearty, both reporters. NY Observer Rumors have been circulating for some time that a round of pink slips was imminent at the Daily News. Although this is the most significant number of layoffs since editor-in-chief Colin Myler took over in November 2011, there has been a slow trickle of departures over the past months. Features editor John Oswald left in March and features reporter Jacob Osterhout vented his rage in a goodbye email after he was let go earlier this spring. continued…

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AOL Revenue is Up, Still Gets Millions from Dial-Up Subscribers

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:25:55 +0000

AOL had some positives in its first quarter earnings report. Total revenue for the company was up two percent compared to last year, hitting $538 million. Ad sales were also up nine percent, from $330 million to $359 million.

Those are good signs, but as always, the hilarious highlight of any AOL earnings report is noting that it’s still raking in lots of cash from people using its dial-up service. Though subscription revenue declined nine percent for Q1, those customers who continue to live in 1999 brought the company $165 million.

“AOL’s strategy of being the first scaled media and technology company is clearly represented in our results today, and we will continue to aggressively drive the company toward near-and long-term growth,” said Tim Armstrong, the company’s CEO, in a statement.

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Pepsi Exec Peter Land Joins AOL as Senior VP of Communications

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:30:45 +0000

Peter Land has been named senior vice president of corporate communications at AOL. He comes to the company from PepsiCo, where he most recently served as head of communications. Land has been with PepsiCo since 2009. Prior to that he was a global managing director at Edelman.

“With more than 25 years of senior level communications experience working for several of the world’s leading media companies and brands, Peter’s ability to navigate the dynamic media and digital environments, develop and manage teams worldwide and work strategically and effectively in both the consumer marketing and corporate reputation arenas will make him a critically important member of our leadership team,” wrote Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, in a note.

Land will report to Armstrong.

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AOL Shares Up 100% in the Last Year

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:25:01 +0000

Who’d have thought? A year ago shares of AOL were trading at half of what they’re going for today.

Today’s jump, up more than 7 percent at last check, is due to a Barclays upgrade of the much maligned company from “equal weight” to “overweight.” AOL’s stock is up more than 100 percent in the last year: today trading at $38.90 vs. $19.19 a year ago today.

That’s just the latest good news for AOL stock. In late February, Evercore Partners raised its target price on AOL shares to $36, up from $34. Then earlier this month, analysts at JMP Securities gave it an “outperform” rating.

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AOL COO Resigns, Susan Lyne Joins as CEO of Brand Group

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:20:57 +0000

A couple of big changes to AOL this morning. Arthur Minson, COO of the company, is stepping down from his role, and Susan Lyne has been named CEO of AOL’s Brand Group.

Minson was named CFO of the company in 2009, then was promoted to COO last summer. Minson will remain at AOL, but it’s uncertain for how long. “Artie has played a key role in the turnaround of AOL and that will continue in 2013 during the transition period,” said Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, in a statement.”

Lyne was most recently chairman and CEO of Gilt Groupe. In her new role she will oversee a variety of brands, including TechCrunch and Engadget. Arianna Huffington will of course continue to run The Huffington Post.

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AOL Acquires Tech Blog gdgt

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:29:40 +0000

The tech blog gdgt has been purchased by AOL, according to a post by its co-founder, Ryan Block:

We got to talking further and realized that gdgt, its team, its technology, and perhaps most importantly its DNA, were a natural fit for AOL’s world-class lineup of tech sites. Well, one thing led to another, and here we are. We honestly couldn’t be more excited about adding gdgt to what is easily the most powerful, influential group of technology media brands in the world.

The acquisition means that AOL is starting to dominate the tech blog world. Along with gdgt, the company now owns Engadget, TechCrunch, Joystiq and TUAW. That’s quite a nice collection.

The deal is also sweet for Block, who will now be head of product for AOL Tech Media, according to TechCrunch.

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AOL Posts First Year-Over-Year Growth in 8 Years

Chris O'Shea — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:11:24 +0000

For AOL, the fourth quarter of 2012 was a solid one. According to its earnings report, the company posted year-over-year revenue growth for the first time in eight years. During 2011′s fourth quarter, AOL earned $22.8 million in net income, while last year it pulled in $35.7 million.

The reasons for the good close to 2012? AOL saw a 17 percent percent jump in its search business and a 31 percent bump in its third-party ad business.

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, was obviously pleased with the results. “AOL has strong momentum entering 2013 and is positioned to continue on our growth path by executing our strategy to build the next generation media and technology company,” he said, in a statement.

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AOL Government Shuttered

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:00:54 +0000

AOL has closed down AOL Government, although you wouldn’t know it by visiting the site; at least not at first.

A tipster informed us that AOL shut Government down after only ~~eight~~ 18 months of publishing and let go off all staffers. However, the site keeps “updating” with content from other AOL verticals and links to completely other sites, such as CNN.

We reached out to AOL and they declined to comment on Government and any layoffs. If anyone has any further details, feel free to share them with us.

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AOL Brings Erika Nardini Aboard as VP, Head of Marketing Solutions

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:23:49 +0000

AOL has named Erika Nardini vice president, head of marketing solutions, for AOL Advertising. Nardini was most recently with Demand Media, where she served as senior vice president of sales and marketing since 2010. Prior to that, she was vice president of packaging and solutions with Yahoo.

“Erika is an industry leader having worked at major digital brands in key marketing roles,” said Jim Norton, senior vice president of AOL Advertising, in a statement. “I am excited to have her join the advertising leadership team as we continue to deliver high value solutions to our advertising and agency partners. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this critical role.”

Nardini will be based in New York and report to Norton.

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Cubes: VIP Tour of AOL and The Huffington Post

Kevin Eck — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:11:00 +0000

Combine tasty treats, sleek design, and the now famous ‘Sitting Cameramen of Astor Place’ and you get the latest episode of “Cubes.”

In this episode of Cubes, the MediabistroTV crew is invited into the New York Headquarters of AOL and The Huffington Post. Hosted by the founding editor of The Huffington Post and president of HuffPost Live, Roy Sekoff, the crew visits the cavernous Huffington Post newsroom where hundreds of writers sit keyboard to keyboard under the watchful gaze of Arianna Huffington herself who plays the always gracious hostess by offering up some tasty Greek Christmas cookies. After burning through the sugar high, the guys mingle with the ghosts of journalism past in the HuffPost Live newsroom where live news is served up eight hours a day by tables of writers, producers and editors who always know what time it is in Funkytown.

You can view our other MediabistroTV productions on our YouTube Channel.

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Huffington Post Names Jimmy Maymann CEO

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:04:43 +0000

Jimmy Maymann, formerly AOL senior vice president and head of International, has been bumped up to CEO of the Huffington Post Media Group. As CEO, Maymann will be responsible for continuing to grow the Huffington Post’s many web properties and its relatively new streaming news network, HuffPost Live.

“Jimmy has been an indispensable partner to me over the past year-and-a-half as we have launched HuffPost around the world,” said Arianna Huffington, in a statement. ”He brings a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit and an ability to scale a business, so he was the first person I turned to to be our CEO.”

Maymann joined AOL in 2011, when his company — GoViral — was acquired by AOL for a cool $97 million.

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AOL’s Revenue is Flat, and That’s Good News

Chris O'Shea — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 08:59:17 +0000

AOL reported their third quarter earnings today, and the good news for the company was that revenue was flat. We know, it doesn’t quite sound like a positive, but it is. It’s the first time in seven years AOL’s revenue didn’t decline. The company’s overall ad business was also up seven percent compared to 3Q 2011. Additionally, traffic to AOL’s sites increased four percent.

Now for the bad news. Domestic display revenue, which is vital to AOL, dropped three percent. With that, overall display sales dropped one percent.

Unsurprisingly, Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, considered it a solid earnings report. “We just reported the best relative revenue performance in seven years and the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year profit growth, exceeding our expectations,” said Armstrong, in a statement. “We have positioned AOL for growth in 2013 and beyond with consumer and advertiser demand growing for our premium content and innovative products, video, services and ad formats.”

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AOL Partners with Vibe

Chris O'Shea — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:00:00 +0000

AOL has partnered with Vibe to manage the back-end of the magazine’s video content and syndicate its videos. The Wrap reports that AOL On Network, AOL’s video division, will handle the back-end of Vibe’s video player systems and content management. AOL will also oversee ad sales as the two pair up for revenue sharing.

By partnering with Vibe, AOL is hoping to tap into the magazine’s audience, thereby expanding its own.

“This is an audience that is consuming content over mobile, desktop and multiple devices in a way we believe people will be consuming in the future,” Frank Besteiro, head of business development at AOL Video, explained to The Wrap.

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Patch Launches A More Social, More Mobile Site

Mona Zhang — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:00:00 +0000

In recent months, there’s been much talk of the booming New York tech scene. The city has the fastest growing tech sector in the nation, helped along by Mayor Bloomberg’s pitch to entrepreneurs and his Made in NY Digital Map. In Q2 of 2012, Internet accounted for 82 percent of VC investment, and total VC funding continues to rise.

One of NYC’s tech properties, Patch, is unveiling a new site today. I got a preview of the new site at Patch’s Chelsea offices, which puts heavy emphasis on social and mobile. continued…

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