AOL today revealed it was reorganizing the company into three distinct operating units, under newly promoted chief operating officer Artie Minson Jr., in a move designed to bring more clarity for those both inside and outside of AOL.
The three units are AOL Membership Group, Content Brands Group and the Advertising.com Group. The company said it is reviewing candidates to fill Minson’s previous position as chief financial officer, a role in which Minson will continue until his replacement is found.
Tim Armstrong, AOL chairman and CEO, said the company is preparing profitability information for each of these operating groups individually and will share that information before the end of the year.
AOL’s B2B services like AdTech, Pictela, GoViral, 5Min and the AOL On Network are part of the Advertising.com Group, an engine essential to drive the company.
Brands like the Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget and Patch are grouped into the Content Brands Group. Within this, Armstrong further announced the formation of a Women’s Content and Lifestyle Brands group under the leadership of Maureen Sullivan, which includes the likes of Stylelist, Stylelist Home and KitchenDaily.
The AOL Membership Group includes free and paid services for consumers, like AOL.com and AOL Mail, that aim to engage users with multiple touchpoints throughout their day.
Corporate functions like finance, legal, technology and human resources continue to operate separately from the three operating units.
“Artie is a world-class leader and proven operator who has played a key partnership role with me over the last three years at AOL,” Armstrong said. “He has significantly improved our balance sheet, cost structure and tax profile, helped unlock significant value for shareholders via asset sales at great prices and led a number of acquisitions which have been and will continue to be drivers of future growth.”
Related links:
AOL – press release
AdWeek – AOL Restructures, Names COO
TechCrunch [an AOL brand] – AOL Reorganizes Into Membership, Brand And Ad Units [Incl Armstrong’s Memo]
Business Insider – AOL Promotes CFO Artie Minson To COO, Puts Him In Charge Of Three Major Divisions
