Paul Cappuccio

He's Baaaaaack: Steve Case Reemerges at AOL

Kara Swisher in News on March 17, 2009 at 9:10 am PT

As BoomTown reported earlier today, AOL was abuzz with the rumors that former execs from the online service’s glory days, including still controversial former CEO Steve Case, might make an appearance at a huge staff pep rally called by its new CEO Tim Armstrong. And so Case did show up in front of a cheering crowd this morning, along with former AOL vice chairman Ted Leonsis. Considering that many at Time Warner, which owns AOL, still harbor resentment towards Case about the disastrous merger between it and AOL a half-decade ago, the move is groundbreaking for the troubled online service and perhaps a sign that it is finally time to move forward.

New AOL Chairman and CEO–and About-To-Be-Ex-Googler–Tim Armstrong Speaks!

Kara Swisher in News on March 12, 2009 at 6:42 pm PT

For a tall man, Tim Armstrong has been on an awful lot of online companies’ short lists. For a big Web exec job, that is. Indeed, whenever one opens up in the Internet space, the 6-foot 3-inch Google ad sales exec always pops up on it as a possible candidate to lead a variety of digital companies and start-ups. Finally today–after longtime speculation that Armstrong had long wanted and would eventually leave his post at Google in order to try his hand at being top dog–he took over as chairman and CEO of the once-mighty, but now-not-so-much, AOL. Armstrong, who will start at AOL on April 7, talked to BoomTown this afternoon about his new job.