According to unnamed sources cited in news reports, three top executives at AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX), are leaving the company.
The executives heading for the exits include Jim Bankoff, who ran consumer and publishing divisions, John Buckley, head of corporate communications, and Joe Redling, who ran international operations, according to the Associated Press. AOL has not made an official comment on the reports.
These departures closely follow AOL getting both a new chief executive and a new president. On Nov. 15, Randy Falco joined AOL as CEO. He came from NBC Universal Television Group, where he was president and COO. And on Nov. 21, Ron Grant, formerly a senior vice president of operations at Time Warner, joined AOL as president and CEO.
According to reports, the executive departures were voluntary. Provisions in their contracts allow them to leave following management changes at the top.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-15-2006 @ 10:33PM
Sum Body Whonos said...
Joe Redling will be sorely missed. He was one of the true leaders and operationally sound executives at the company.
Buckley on the other was an arrogant Spin Doctor who believed that you manage a company based on the press rather than the work. Miller listened too closely to this Dick Cavett wannabe.
I only wish this announcement had included Conroy - we can only hope that his days of shameless self promotion and chest beating are over in favor of a management team that rewards results not clippings.
12-16-2006 @ 7:51AM
10yrAOLer said...
Agree with "Sum Body Whonos" about Redling. This is a big loss for the company. As for Buckley and Conroy, this guy definitely doesn't know a thing about them. Buckley didn't manage the company, son. His *job* was the press. So of course that was his focus. He did a brilliant job. And this guy's comment about Conroy proves he knows very little about the man. Conroy is all about the team. Not a self-promoter at all. He's tough on people, no doubt about it, but ask anyone who actually works for him--and I do--and they'll tell you that they wouldn't want to work for anyone else. Conroy demands the best out of people. Those who have a problem with that aren't the kind of people any of us want at AOL in the first place.
12-16-2006 @ 3:55PM
barry coleman said...
I WONDER IF THE AETNA EXECUTIVES DID DATING MANUVERS WITH THEIR STOCKS OPTIONS, AS THE STOCK PRICES SEEMED IRREGULAR, AND SOME FOLKS LEFT THE SCENE...SURPRISINGLY...
12-16-2006 @ 3:51PM
Tom Dawson said...
"1. Joe Redling will be sorely missed. He was one of the true leaders and operationally sound executives at the company."
Doh! Yeah Joe lead the company to spending millions of dollars on client architecture and solutions that have absolutely no value or customer base. (errr you ever heard of Open Ride?) Furthermore, those money sucking investments in technolgy with absolutely no return margin bled the company of money that could have been invested in the Web space and increasing page view, page yeild, search relevence etc...If there is any "resale" value in anything that was funded out of Joe's tech team in the last two years, AOL will be lucky. Off course there is lot's of good KoolAid still being drunk over in that part of AOL - the same managment team that failed in the client/access world is now responsible for AOL International.