Top AOL Media Exec Marty Moe To Depart (Other Rumors of David Eun Ankling Not So Much)
According to sources close to the situation, one of AOL’s top, longtime media execs, Marty Moe (pictured here), is leaving the company.
Sources said the reasons were personal and Moe was not currently taking another job.
UPDATE: BoomTown just obtained the internal memo on the departure, which is below.
Moe is currently SVP of the Media unit’s News & Information Group at AOL (AOL), although he has held a number of other content posts under different execs at the long-struggling company.
Moe’s former boss Bill Wilson left the company in February, and Moe now works for President of Media and Studios David Eun, who came to AOL from a content job at the YouTube unit of Google (GOOG).
While there have been a spate of rumors recently that Eun was the one on his way out, sources at AOL said such speculation was inaccurate.
There has most definitely been tension in the media group since Eun began making massive changes in its management and strategy.
Media, in fact, has been the main focus of CEO Tim Armstrong, who is betting big on content offerings and the premium advertising that could be sold around it.
Here is the internal memo from Eun on the departure:
Dear AOL Media team–
Our colleague and long-time AOLer, Marty Moe, has decided to step down from his role leading our News & Information area. Marty, a nine-year veteran of the company, was one of the original champions of opening up AOL’s content and products to all users on the web at large as the company transitioned to an ad-supported media business.
More recently, Marty was a driving force behind helping AOL move away from aggregating third party content and moving toward the creation of high quality original content.
In talking with Marty, I know that he is eager to take on new challenges and also find more time to spend with his family. Marty is going to be transitioning with us through early October. In the meantime we will be looking for someone to fill his role.
Please join me in thanking Marty for his contributions to AOL and in wishing him the best of luck going forward.
David
And here is Armstrong talking about trying to jumpstart AOL in an interview with me at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in June:
