Gawker
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conflicts of interest
AOL's Shameless CEO Bailout
Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO, just bought a company from... Tim Armstrong, investor. The official line is that the deal is on the up and up, since the consummate salesman won't be taking any profits off his stake. Rich. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by trevo: To those of you who fail to see the conflict of interest, let me use the TARP program as an... more » | Other threads
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spinoffs
The AOL-Time Warner Saga Bookends One Sorry Decade
The 21st century dawned with news that two media megaliths, AOL and Time Warner, were to merge. Critics howled that the vast tentacles of a combined AOL-TW would subsume us all. Today, Time Warner confirmed it's spinning off AOL, ending a business saga that defined whatever you're calling the 2000s. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by persimmon: I'm hoping this means we'll never hear the word "synergy" uttered again. 5 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google's 'Darth Vader'
In flusher times, Google geeks set the agenda for company sales executives; distracting sidelines were encouraged. The recession — assisted by a new sales chief who apparently doesn't mind his diabolical reputation — foreclosed on such coddling. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Nyarlathotep: Google places sponsor links above natural search results, which AOLers click, generating Google revenue. You're probably a Firefox user running Customise... 1 Responses | Other threads
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housekeeping
Valleywag: An Instruction Manual
Dear Ryan:
As I head to NBC to run its Bay Area site, I'm leaving you one Silicon Valley gossip blog, used but in good condition. A few thoughts on how to keep it that way. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RheaPollstry: Is that Owen? Mmmmmm, I do luv me some bears. And working in a bar, no less! My heart is... 4 Responses | Other threads
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memos
Googler Rant to New Ad Boss: 'Please Fix This Mess Sire'
Google's top European salesman, Dennis Woodside, stepped in for New York-based sales chief Tim Armstrong after Armstrong left to become AOL's CEO. An anonymous Googler sent him this memo detailing the New York office's many problems: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by MisterHippity: I guess he isn't feeling lucky. 1 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
New AOL CEO Wants to Buy Twitter's Web Cool
An AOL tipster tells us incoming CEO Tim Armstrong, the Google sales veteran, wants to buy Twitter, the hot message-broadcasting startup. One problem: He hasn't even started at AOL yet. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Kaskaad Splash: <------ re = camaro ad to the left ... is Bah the new Meh? was there a memo? 2 Responses | Other threads
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exits
AOL Boots Loser CEO for Google's Tim Armstrong
At last, AOL has done something right: The Time Warner Internet unit has hired Google's Tim Armstrong as its new CEO, booting the laughably incompetent duo of CEO Randy Falco and COO Ron Grant. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Nick Denton: Why are you so sure he's the best man for the job? He's no product guy -- and arguably that's... 4 Responses | Other threads
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blogging for dollars
New New York Times Survival Strategy: Become a Fancy Blog-Software Company
Why has the Gray Lady assigned full-time reporters to communities in Brooklyn and New Jersey? Even a Times editor admits the paper will never make money on microjournalism. But they could market software to bloggers. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jasper Reardon: This isn't a new strategy for the Times, really. For instance, the About.com deal that everyone derided was mostly in... 3 Responses | Other threads
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death of print
The New York Times Battles a Googler for New Jersey
Why is the Gray Lady building websites for the obscure suburbs of South Orange, Maplewood, and Milburn? Perhaps because those are the exact same towns Google executive Tim Armstrong picked for Patch, his local-news startup. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Tremonius: I read that the LA Times has online revenue exceeding its editorial costs, minus printing. That means if they went... 5 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
At Last, Google Funds a Bailout for Reporters
Journalism pundits have been begging Google to put its billions behind the project of saving journalism. At last, a Google executive has come through. Here's Tim Armstrong's secret plan to save the local news business. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Robert Strutin: As a startup doing research on Angel Investors this is exactly the way forward in business. Google is testing,... 2 Responses | Other threads
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google
Nothing but sunny skies over Mountain View
Speaking to a klatch of invited press, Google's leadership painted a typically rosy picture of the company's prospects amid a faltering economy and chaos on Wall Street. "The company has a very large amount of cash in very, very boring and secure investments," CEO Eric Schmidt assured everyone. Schmidt also promised that the search advertising deal with Yahoo was going forward on October 11th with or without approval from federal regulators (and all signs point to "without"). VP of North American advertising Tim Armstrong repeated the company's mantra that what's bad for traditional advertising is good for Google. None of which helped the price of GOOG, which is down over two dollars so far today and over $340 so far this year. (Photo by AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
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By Jackson WestComment by emnem: "Schmidt also promised that the search advertising deal with Yahoo was going forward on October 11th with or without approval... 1 Responses | Other threads
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nerdfight
Google exec slags Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg
Why would Google confess to the many problems it has had selling ads? The problems, Google ad-sales exec Tim Armstrong admitted to the Wall Street Journal, extended far beyond YouTube, where Google's bureaucracy compounded advertisers' hesitation to place commercials next to the site's free-for-all video content. Armstrong didn't point fingers, but he didn't have to: Everyone in the Valley knows that Sheryl Sandberg, the high-ranking Google executive who recently defected to Facebook, oversaw Google's automated online-advertising systems. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by FiveStarEggRoll: @WagCurious: Just barely. You will recall he was the young genius in the movie "Real Genius". Harry "no, not really but... more » | Other threads
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google
Why YouTube can't make money — the 100-word version
Tim Armstrong, Google's head of North American advertising and commerce, is tasked with turning Google's $1.65 billion money pit cum legal headache, YouTube, into a profitable enterprise. Since the departure of the online video-sharing site's former moneyman, Shashi Seth, ideas ranging from affiliate links to iTunes to sharing revenue with third-party sites that embed the limited stock of professional videos, have been floated. But the real problem seems to be an amazing number of bottlenecks any deal has to go through, the Wall Street Journal reports: More »
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By Jackson WestComment by G2GdoB2B: @Olsonist: They are not going to start charging for registration - that's not a viable business model (for the same... more » | Other threads
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jerry yang
Cowed Yahoo board members' wishlist of Yang and Decker replacements
Yahoo shares are almost below $20 in morning trading and as the company approaches its August 1 annual meeting, Yahoo's directors have finally begun to fear for their jobs and their reputations. They're negotiating with Yahoo's major shareholders and, along with agreeing to renew talks with Microsoft and approach AOL for acquisition, some on the board are offering to promote CEO Jerry Yang into a non-executive chairmanship and fire Yahoo president Sue Decker. Reporter's reporter Kara Swisher reports that shareholders and some board members have already come up with a wish list of names for the top jobs. More » -
online advertising
Google's plan to bulldoze Madison Avenue
Google advertising exec Tim Armstrong wore a smile and told those gathered at the American Association of Advertising Agencies yesterday how his company planned to destroy them. The weapon? A dashboard. With it, Armstrong said, buyers will be able to manage TV, radio print, search and display campaigns. Sounds like most of what a media buyer does. But don't fret, Madison Avenue. Your Terminator from the future won't arrive for some time yet. Or at least no sooner than any other vaporware like Android, OpenSocial, and Google Health. -
quotable
Google ad chief equivocates on Microsoft-Yahoo takeover
The Fox Business Network had Google's Tim Armstrong on this morning to talk about YouTube, but quickly transitioned to the much bigger news of the day: the Microsoft takeover of Yahoo.I don't think we would comment on it specifically, I think that's between those companies ... We compete against both of those companies, we also partner with both of those companies. We'll be as interested in anybody in what the outcomes are.
More comment, and the full video. More » -
online advertising
Google and Publicis swap execs, wet kisses
Google is more than just a "frenemy," Publicis CEO Maurice Levy told gathered reporters yesterday, after surprising them with a visit from Google CEO Eric Schmidt. More » -
facebook
Googlers try to save Facebook deal
Google is racing with Yahoo and Microsoft to take a stake in Facebook, and win some of its advertising business. As with YouTube, Google was late to get in on the Facebook deal — but again, it's making a full-court press, with some of its top people. Negotiating the deal: Tim Armstrong, Google's chief of ad sales; Susan Wojcicki, Google's VP in charge of product management for advertising; Joan Braddi, a Google VP involved with search; and Megan Smith, a veteran Google dealmaker. Armstong is leading Google's approach, but we hear Smith is playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role. She was also, coincidentally, spotted by many chatting up Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a recent party thrown by Facebook app-developer iLike. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Trackback: Please see this disclosure related to me and Google. Poor Facebook VP Owen Van Natta–locked away all day on such... more » | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Arrogant Googlers tempt the gods
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. I'm not sure if Euripides, the Greek playwright, had Google's management team in mind when he wrote that, but it sure fits. Google, despite the occasional lost deal, billion-dollar lawsuit, and PR black eye, continues to succeed spectacularly as a business. "Somehow they continue shitting more money than you or i could realistically comprehend," writes one Valleywag reader. Indeed. And that money is driving the people who run Google insane. CEO Eric Schmidt's cosseting of girlfriend Marcy Simon with a plum PR job is just the latest, most blatant sign of that madness. More » -
superficial
Who's the hunkiest New York Googler?
Tim Armstrong, left, the Google sales chief ridden with conflicts of interest, is drawing unconflicted interest from junior staffers. Apparently the hunky executive is being tracked via Twitter, so ga-ga Googlers can maximize their eyefuls of Armstrong. Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget, whom we hadn't previously thought as a connoisseur of manflesh, also recommends Google's Tom Phillips, right, a cofounder of Spy, as a target for Twitter stalking. So, readers, any other denizens of Google's Chelsea office handsome enough to deserve such excess SMS interest? Leave a comment or send in a tip, and we'll run a poll later. -
toogle many googlers
Pick the Googlers who have to go, part two
Despite CEO Eric Schmidt's promises during Google's most recent earnings call, his company continues to metastasize. This time, it's threatening to swallow up all of New York's Chelsea neighborhood. I have an idea: Rather than lease expensive new real estate, why not boot some current Googlers to make room for new ones? Which brings us to this, the second edition of Toogle Many Googlers! Want to nominate a Googler for toogling? Send in a name and pic. More » -
conflicts of interest
How Tim Armstrong's startup profits from Google
Associated Content, the startup backed by top Google sales executive Tim Armstrong, is controversial because of accusations — hardly denied by CEO Geoff Reiss — that the company is gaming AdSense, Google's system for placing advertisements on other websites. Specifically, Associated Content pays bloggers to write articles on niche topics designed to attract lucrative ads. The problem with the scheme, of course, is that Google's advertisers are interested in placing ads on relevant, high-quality websites, not pages ginned up solely to make a buck. But what's most suspicious about AC is how well, and how quickly, it pays people to gin up those articles. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by pseudonym: I've never looked past a press release about AC before today, but their website says they pay upfront for "some... more » | Other threads
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conflicts of interest
Google executive's startup admits to "gaming AdSense"
We're starting a countdown: How long before Google ad-sales executive Tim Armstrong either leaves the search engine, or leaves the board of Associated Content, the startup he's helping to launch? In his day job, Armstrong sells ads which appear on Google's own websites, as well as sites in its AdSense ad-distribution network. Associated Content, meanwhile, pays bloggers to write lightweight articles on niche topics, in what most observers believe is a cynical attempt to reap profits from Google's AdSense advertisers. AC CEO Geoff Reiss, whom Armstrong hired, admits as much to News.com. Read on for the damning quote which may end Armstrong's cozy arrangement for good. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by t.a.m.s.y.: It's not your boredom I'd be worried about. more » | Other threads
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