Aol Time Warner

Wenner Media Digital Boss Michael Bloom Leaves After Six Months

Peter Kafka in Media on November 19, 2011 at 7:43 am PT

Bloom joined the publisher, which owns Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, and Men’s Journal, in May. Friday afternoon he sent out a memo announcing his departure.

He’s Back: Bob Pittman Named CEO of Clear Channel

Kara Swisher in Media on October 2, 2011 at 2:00 pm PT

Longtime media and Internet exec Bob Pittman has been named CEO of radio broadcast and outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel, the company announced today.

New Early-Stage VC Firm, Freestyle Capital, Launches

Kara Swisher in News on September 12, 2011 at 6:00 am PT

Longtime tech entrepreneurs Josh Felser and Dave Samuel will today announce a new early-stage VC firm called Freestyle Capital.

Voices

Time for a Sequel to AOL-Time Warner?

Dennis K. Berman, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on March 29, 2011 at 2:21 pm PT

This isn’t a joke. The buzz from California is that it just may be time to try another AOL-Time Warner. That $164 billion merger disaster defined a decade of thoughtless deal making, reckless ego and vaporous “synergy.” But for Hollywood executives and bankers now toting their iPads like baby blankets, the new technology has brought them back to an old conversation about “content” and its distribution.

Weekend Update 11.21.09–The House of Cards Edition

Drake Martinet in News on November 21, 2009 at 12:30 pm PT

In tough economic times like these, even the biggest businesses get the urge to restructure, reorg and reshuffle. Kara reported on several big breakups (of the tech variety), including the separation of AOL from Time Warner. Even ICQ got into the mix.

It's Another Tequila Start-Up: Bob Pittman's New Venture

Kara Swisher in News on October 16, 2009 at 2:14 am PT

Earlier this week, while in New York, BoomTown paid a visit to well-known media and Web exec Bob Pittman to hear about his newest venture. And, as it turned out, it tasted pretty good. That’s because the former MTV wunderkind, AOL top exec and currently, investor in a wide range of media and Web companies, is making tequila instead of Internet sites. Thank God it’s Friday!

Dear Tim: Here's a Tour of the It-Takes-a-Licking-but-Keeps-on-Ticking AOL Brand

Kara Swisher in News on July 28, 2009 at 12:02 am PT

What’s next for AOL? Reviving the “You’ve Got Mail!” motto? Or: “The Future. Now Available.”–set to music from “The Jetsons”? What about: “So easy to use, no wonder it’s #1!” Or maybe, it should just use a nice loooooooong busy signal as its calling card again? Well, it could happen, now that new CEO Tim Armstrong has fallen prey to the siren call of the AOL brand name, after years of seeing the company wander in the anything-but-the-AOL wilderness. Thus, he’s decided to try to welcome the prodigal brand back home, even as he prepares to spin it off in November from Time Warner. Uh-oh.

The $125 Million-Sweet DailyCandy Revenge of Bob "Pitchman"

Kara Swisher in News on August 6, 2008 at 6:55 am PT

Oh, there had to be much, much gnashing of teeth in the corporate offices at the Time Warner Center in New York yesterday with news of the sale of DailyCandy to Comcast for $125 million. Why? Maybe because that tasty payment is going right into the hands of Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group Ventures, which bought the fashion and shopping newsletter business for $3 million in 2003. This is certainly different from the situation almost exactly six years ago when Pittman–nicknamed “Pitchman” for his smooth business stylings–was driven out of then-AOL Time Warner on the proverbial rail. If you want a taste of those once-grim times for Pittman, here is an excerpt from my book, “There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future.”