AOL’s Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis will relinquish his operational duties at the end of the year, reports WSJ. Leonsis is one of the last remaining members of AOL’s old guard, having been with the firm since 1993…he was running the content operations till now. He will remain on as an advisor. The story says he wants to devote more time to his activities in the sporting world and philanthropy.
This certainly closes the loop on AOL’s reinvention as an online, ad-supported player. Leonsis was also among the most senior at Time Warner company to blog...he started blogging earlier this year.
NYTimes: The company is also streamlining its top management. Already, John A. McKinley Jr., the president of its digital services unit, which sold supplemental products like voice mail, has resigned. And Joe Redling, the president of the Internet access business, will probably be reassigned, the story says.
WaPo: Next week, the company plans to announce some slight corporate reshuffling among the handful of managers who report to Leonsis, including Mike Kelly, head of ad sales; Jim Bankoff, head of programming; and Kevin Conroy, who heads AOL.com and other Web properties. I am assuming this means all will now report to CEO Jonathan Miller.