AOL has hit on a successful competitive strategy: place its most combustible executives with other internet companies, and wait for the explosion. WebMD, the online health site, has announced the termination of its CTO, David Gang, an AOL veteran. Companies never fire senior executives if they can possibly avoid such a legally fraught course. Anyone know the back story? Not that Gang, executive vice president for products at the Dulles-based Time Warner unit, was any more popular at his former employer. An AOL refugee remembers:

I knew David a bit at AOL — more by reputation than personally, although personally a little, too. He's — how you say? — a total c***sucker. It was a rare happy day at AOL when David's departure was announced. Of course, that happened probably two years too late. Noted pussy Jon Miller seemed terrified of him. The fact that WebMD rid itself of him so (relatively) expeditiously makes me want to buy their stock. Of course, David remains richer than God. Still, between a gainfully-employed richer-than-God David, and a publicly-humiliated richer-than-God David, I've gotta go with the egg on the face.

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