aol

The 404 1,089: Where we go the extra mile (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- Soccer to adapt goal line, ball-tracking technology.

- Friday's history lesson: AOL's longest running employee on the history of AOL chat rooms.

- British Airways will google passengers in preflight.

- Hillbilly Alabamians celebrate Fourth of July by shooting guns into air.

- Best Buy lays off 650 Geek Squad employees nationwide.

Bathroom break video: Super Moonwalking!… Read more

AOL reorganizes, creates three new groups

AOL announced two substantial changes to its business this morning.

First up, the company says it has promoted CFO Artie Minson Jr. to chief operating officer. In his new role, Minson will be in charge of three new units AOL that has established as part of a reorganization focused on "driving growth and improved profitability."

According to AOL, it's business will now be aligned in three distinct operating groups -- AOL Membership, Content Brands, and Advertising.com. All three operating units will report directly to Minson. A fourth group, made up of sales, technology, communications, brand marketing, … Read more

AOL planning stock buyback with patent portfolio sale proceeds?

AOL stockholders expecting a big dividend check after the Internet company's $1 billion patent portfolio sale to Microsoft might be a little disappointed.

After examining its tax strategies and consulting major stockholders, the company has decided a stock buyback is the best way to use the gains from the $1.06 billion sale of some 800 patents and related applications, sources close to the situation tell All Things D.

AOL promised that the proceeds from the sale, which closed on June 15, would be returned to shareholders, although it was unclear whether that would be in the form of … Read more

Microsoft's $1 billion AOL patent buy a done deal

Microsoft's $1.06 billion deal with AOL to acquire some 800 patents and related applications has closed.

The two companies today said the deal, which was struck in April, has been completed.

"The closing of this transaction represents another major step for AOL in increasing value for our shareholders," AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong said in a statement.

AOL says the all the proceeds from the patents will be returned to shareholders, and it will offer more specifics on that before the end of June.

In late April, Microsoft announced that it would assign Facebook "… Read more

iPhone makes the 'Leap' into the prepaid zone

We're dropping down from space, getting touchy with Windows 8 and leaping over a new iPhone carrier:

The iPhone has taken a leap into the prepaid, no-contract world. Beginning in late June, the prepaid carrier Leap Wireless will sell Apple's iPhone under the Cricket service. This makes it the first carrier to sell the iPhone without a contract. But don't expect the iPhone to come cheap. The 16 GB iPhone 4s will be priced at $500 dollars.

So that leaves T-Mobile in the corner, just tapping its foot waiting for its turn to dance with Apple. With … Read more

AOL takes heavy fire from Starboard side

Starboard Value, a $1 billion hedge fund with a 5 percent stake in AOL, claims the media company is poorly managed and is preparing for a proxy fight to replace three members of AOL's board.

Starboard said today that it filed a copy of the presentation it plans to make at AOL's annual meeting in June. Starboard is backing a slate of nominees that would replace AOL directors Alberto Ibarguen, Patricia Mitchell, and James Stengel.

For months, Starboard has bashed AOL and CEO Tim Armstrong's leadership record. The hedge fund has grown impatient with AOL's effort … Read more

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL

It was 6 a.m. when Eric Simons was jolted awake by the yelling.

After working until 4 a.m, the 19-year-old entrepreneur had finally passed out. A few hours of sleep would help with the day ahead.

But unlike most people working at AOL's Palo Alto, Calif., campus who were surely still hours from showing up at the sprawling complex, Simons was already there. He'd been living there for two months, hiding out at night on couches, eating the company's food, and exercising and showering in its gym. And now, with an angry security guard bellowing … Read more

CEO Armstrong: No social network in AOL's future

In case you were wondering what AOL is turning into, one item that's not on the agenda is a social network.

"We're not as laser-focused on social as you might think we should be at this point," said Tim Armstrong, speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt forum this afternoon. He added that "if there's one core strategy, it's turning advertising into content...we want all brands to be publishers and that feeds into how brands publish social." The talk was also shown via Webcast.

Despite the recent excitement created by the enormous size … Read more

Ex-AOL honcho Brad Garlinghouse to run YouSendIt

There are a lot of things you can be famous for in Silicon Valley, but Brad Garlinghouse will probably always be known for having sent the legendary "Peanut Butter Manifesto," a 2006 document that excoriated his team at Yahoo for their lackadaisical attitudes, and which will always be mentioned as "Jerry McGuire-esque."

More recently, Garlinghouse has been president of commerce and applications at AOL. And today, according to Fortune, YouSendIt, a player in the cloud storage business, announced that Garlinghouse is coming aboard as CEO.

"I didn't want to be the salmon swimming upstream, … Read more