Industry Moves: AdMeld Taps Former FIM Exec Barrett As CEO, Secures New Funding
Online ad optimizer AdMeld has named former Fox Interactive Media and AOL exec Michael Barrett to the new post of CEO. Barrett left FIM (NYSE: NWS) amid an executive shake-up last April. Barrett joined FIM as EVP and chief revenue officer in 2006. Before FIM, Barrett was EVP for sales and partnerships at AOL Media Networks.
In addition to picking a new CEO, the NYC-based company has completed its $7 million first round. The round was led by Spark Capital and the Foundry Group. AdMeld secured $5 million for the round in June and has otherwise been in stealth mode since then. AdMeld was co-founded by Ben Barokas, a former *JumpTV* and AOL exec. Barokas and CTO Brian Adams had been leading the company to this point; Barrett is AdMeld’s first CEO. Ad-optimization providers like AdMeld have been hoping to use the economic downturn to increase their appeal to publishers by promising better inventory management.
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Posted In: Advertising, admeld, michael barrett
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Comments (10)
Nov 10, 2008 11:33 AM
How to screw your company in one easy move, hire an idiot like Barrett!!! This guy was the most worthless piece of crap at AOL, had no idea what he was doing and if it wasn’t for the fact that his incompetence was shielded by his boss’s would have been fired a long time before he was.
Nov 10, 2008 11:38 AM
I have to say that I agree to this extent: he knows very little, if anything, about online advertising or ad technology. I’d have to say that this person is very very overrated.
Nov 10, 2008 11:48 AM
AdMeld is targeting the top 150 sites as potential clients and hired him for his high-level relationships. Seems like a good fit here. AdMeld needs him to get them in the door.
Nov 10, 2008 11:57 AM
That sounds like a head of sales. A CEO does so much more than that.
Nov 10, 2008 2:13 PM
@ Ad Exchanger… high level relationships…Barrett….LMAO.
Nov 10, 2008 7:00 PM
hmm, my experience with Michael Barrett has been exactly the opposite. I always found him to be knowledgable, personable and able to get the results. He’s not techincal, that’s for sure, but I don’t think that’s what he gets hired for. He is without peer, IMHO, on his ability to build relationships and teams. Guess there’s always two sides to every story.
Nov 11, 2008 12:08 AM
westsider = michael barrett. ANYONE who worked with Barrett would not have posted that comment. “Knowledgeable’ is laughable, his staff used to try and keep him out of client meetings because he put his foot in his mouth so much, “personable”...I admit that if you were stuck for six days in a morgue, he would seem personable and sometimes AOL felt like that, able to get results…ok just can’t answer that, it’s too ridiculous. “He is without peer”, this is just not true, there are may sixth graders who easily match his abilities and intelligence! As a CEO…ohhh I cant wait to see the results!!!
Nov 12, 2008 12:25 AM
to ex-aolexecsays -why do you find it so hard to believe that someone would have the audacity to disagree with you? I can assure you that I am sincere in my comments. So, now I guess your next post will be about how stupid I am to believe what I have experienced and that you are the only one who could possibly be right. hmm, just occurred to me why you worked at AOL. Give it a rest, k?
Nov 12, 2008 10:01 PM
I cannot imagine you worked with Barrett lol. I am definitely NOT the only one who could be right…but if you had truly worked with him, you would know that I was.
Nov 13, 2008 10:21 AM
you should stop showing your ass in public, ex-aolexecsays. anyone that calls themselves an exec surely is not. I am through with you.