AOL (TWX) Firing 100+ Platform A-ers Today

Angry Texan said:

GO LYNDA!!!!!!!!!!! Get them Platform-Aers!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gordon said:

As a long-suffering TWX shareholder, their #1 focus right now for TWX should be "HOW DO WE SELL AOL FOR THE MAXIMUM PRICE POSSIBLE ASAP." i want bewkes to FOCUS on this mission and EXECUTE it. how? that's not for me to figure out - i'm not the one getting paid millions of dollars. FIGURE IT OUT, BEWKES. THAT'S WHAT WE PAY YOU FOR. with the share price at ~$14, I WANT SOME G.D. ACTION, MOFOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

itsneeded said:

Apr. 18, 1:53 PM

Hopefully they'll clear out some aol acquired dead wood from LighteningCast also.

Bifteck said:

Apr. 18, 2:05 PM

Merger, relalignment, firings...when has this NOT been the timeline for consolidation?

Charles Darwin, had he been born a bit later, probably would have make a killing as a mergers & aquisitions guy. The herd gets thinned. The strong survive. And that's good for the species--in this case, Platform-A, AOL and, down the line, the TWX shareholders, regardless of what they decide to do with AOL et al.

If you're trying to fuse five or six organizations, there's gonna be some fat to trim. And unless you're in the C-suite, you're going to think the package sucks. Especially in this economy.

Wake me up when something interesting happens. Otherwise, I think Clarizio's on the right track.

mangamanga said:

Apr. 18, 2:17 PM

Not to step on anyone's toes, but what I think Biftex is trying to say is...no s*** sherlock.

Dalton Porter said:

Apr. 18, 2:57 PM

"Itsneeded" , you might first want to learn how to spell Lightningcast before making accusations.

Joe (URL) said:

Apr. 18, 3:20 PM

As someone who was whacked in the last round of layoffs; I can say confidently, that the Advertising folks are redundantly layered over another in AOL's org structure.

I estimate there are about 2500 folks who are in Platform-A. 100 folks aren't that much, just trying to make their numbers look good for Q2.

"Realignment," "Layoff," "Restructure," "Transition" are all great phrases to downplay the fact you are outsourcing every person's job overseas while the A, B and C level executives reap in their bonuses and roll in on their Lotuses and Ferrari's. Not to mention, the quality of work drops substantially with each "re-org."

~Joe

Marah Marie (URL) said:

Apr. 18, 7:53 PM

Dalton Porter, the amount of people at A-OhWell who can capitalize, spell, and translate their thoughts here without sounding like they left school with a GED is slim at best, and I'm being a tad optimistic in my assessment. That said, I will overlook the fact that you've anointed yourself SAI's Spelling Nazi, a highly grating and irritating habit for anyone to take on here since it inevitably takes the thread off-topic and lends needless distraction to the thought at hand being so generously presented to us by the commentator, who didn't do so bad for a phonetically rendered spelling of Lightning-f#$%cking-cast.

That said, I'm with Gordon 100%; couldn't have said it better myself (could I have?).

Dalton, go teach spelling at a school or something - please.

Matrixed said:

Apr. 19, 2:30 PM

This is probably the first of several smaller "realignments" as things settle out in Platform A over the next few months. But of course, AOL as a whole will always have the annual fall layoff extravaganza to look forward to.

@Marah Marie: BTW, what are you contributing except insults and examples of poorly constructed, run-on sentences?

NickCharles said:

Apr. 19, 7:00 PM

Lynda is having a major impact on Platform A. There is no denying that. Curt was just a disaster. There is not denying that. Lynda is the right person for the job. Give her a year and Platform A will be integrated and selling branded advertising which has not been happening since the end of 2006. Bring back Janet Balis -- at least she knew the value of the inventory the AOL team was creating. Curt = disaster. No decisions, no action every single day he was on the job. Lynda = action and decisions. They may not all be right but thankfully she is not afraid to make the call. Hey Henry - you may have some vendetta against Ron and Randy but just so you know, they too are having a major positive impact. Time will tell if Bewkes gives them the time -- damn it has only been 15 months and they inherited a complete mess. Hey Bewkes - why cash out now when ad growth is not yet taken hold since Curt messed that part up. Page Views and Ad Impressions are way up per Comscore --- the $ will follow. -- Nick

Sand Hill Road said:

Apr. 19, 8:41 PM

This week, it was 100+ Platform A-ers. The rest of you AOLers should work on your resume. Your days are numbered and AOL is a laughingstock. You're the butt of our jokes in Silicon Valley.

Sux said:

Apr. 20, 1:13 AM

NickCharles, which part of the AOL Corp Comm crevasse did you crawl out from? Copying and pasting the same comment onto 2 different posts regarding AOL is a dead give away. Btw, Ron and Randy didn't "inherit" a "complete mess", they wholeheartedly grabbed it from the previous management - thinking they know what AOL's problems were. They wasted a year trying to figure out what to do with AOL.

Seen it all before said:

Apr. 20, 1:25 AM

"Sux" is exactly correct. R & R inherited a team that made their numbers for double digit quarters in a row, had already purchased Advertising.com and had the audience strategy set for the future.

What have they done since?

Randy is the "Grey Ghost" -- no one know what he does, and Ron has run out of products to personally f*** up.

Seen it all before said:

Apr. 20, 1:38 AM

I also think it's funny that NickCharles laments the fact that R & R have *only* been at it for 15 months and we need to give them *more* time, while also bashing Curt because he didn't do anything in 5 months.

Curt is a good manager but was simply the wrong guy at the wrong time. He probably got assurances that Tacoda would play a prominent role in the new org, but experienced difficulties with integration because Ad.com controlled a large part of the existing structure. And as much credit as Lynda is due now for the recent progress, there was absolutely no incentive for Ad.com to integrate under Curt's tenure.

Just like Mike Kelly previously, Curt and Lynda could not co-exist. Period. Thankfully we have all feudal battles over and can now focus on the matters at hand.

NickCharles said:

Apr. 20, 10:22 AM

SeenItAll - I agree Curt is a good manager (he would not have built Tacoda as he did if he was not)- just was not the right person for the job he had and by not making decisions it set the company back. Agree also on Mike and Lynda and the fact the battles are over and now people can focus on the matters at hand. We are saying the same thing.

Marah Marie (URL) said:

Apr. 21, 1:43 AM

@Matrixed,

I've hung around SAI for a little while now and I've never seen Dalton here before so my guess is that I'm contributing much more than he is to the overall conversation, and I usually do it without any insults or consternation, and few if any run-on sentences (but Matrixed, I love run-on sentences with a passion that I can't truly describe, and I know how to make them run on for pages if I choose to so don't take one of the few true joys of composing my sentences away from me).

What am I contributing? What is Dalton contributing? You want to talk about insults? OK, let's talk.

He tells another commentator here that he needs to learn to spell before he can participate in the discussion - now that's insulting. Not only that but:

1. Dalton is announcing with such a statement that he now makes the rules for this thread, and, by extension, that he now makes the rules for every other thread on SAI.

2. He is hugely insulting with that statement as I stated but failed to explain why above. I misspell things, too. Chances are so do you. Chances are so does Dalton! Who is he to look down his nose and attempt to eject people from this thread over a single spelling error?

3. You are insulting, too, by picking on my run-on sentences and calling my presence here superfluous. Would you like another run on sentence from me just to see how much I care what you think?

Didn't think so, Matrixed.

And Matrixed, I've seen your name around SAI before, too, so now I know you must be more aligned with the few insulters I get against me here once in a while than the others I interact with so I'll keep that in mind from now on...thanks for letting me know.

ビスです said:

Sep. 04, 11:24 PM

wmv to mp4 converter can also help you put WMV files to your iPod, Zune, PSP these potable devices.

maple mesos (URL) said:

Sep. 05, 1:57 AM

Because they often use maple mesos from the company and the company is reputable.

Sword of the New World Vis (URL) said:

Sep. 05, 2:02 AM

Original title allows players to create and simultaneously control a family of characters utilizing the Sword of the New World Vis and the excusive Multiple Character Control system.

cheap snw vis (URL) said:

Sep. 11, 10:13 PM

the cheap snw vis, only on the 1st day to follow, quietly looking forward to growth..

UserName said:

Sep. 13, 9:55 AM

digital signage advertising display[iahbjfefhebbc]

Atlantica online Gold (URL) said:

Sep. 17, 12:37 AM

In Atlantica Online, we can use Atlantica online Gold to change our equipment.

Archlord gold (URL) said:

Sep. 19, 9:11 PM

Of course, it will take an interesting feature like this for Archlord to compete in the crowded MMO pay Archlord online Gold to play genre.
Considerable amount of Archlord money content via questing. Music scored by the London Symphony Orchestra.
You have to buy Archlord gold in the game like WoW then pay a monthly fee.
In the two years I made many good friends also spend much money to buy the Archlord gold, but I do not have a little sad.
I made a foreign people who called Tom. I think he was very handsome, because I always in trouble in Archlord Online and he often helped me without any Archlord cheap.

GoodName said:

Sep. 22, 12:38 AM