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Highlights From Yesterday’s Secret “Welcome To AOL” Meeting
- alextp 16y agoIs this an "in-your-face" resignation letter?
- some1else 16y agoCould be. But, is TechCrunch a reality show or a tech news source? Or a reality show about a tech news source about a rea.. Eh.
- mycroftiv 16y agoI can't tell if this is actual insubordination, or an AOL-approved PR move designed to emphasize that Techcrunch will still be pugnacious.
- mahmud 16y agoYou say pugnacious, I say repugnant.
- jackowayed 16y agoI doubt AOL told them to do this, beyond maybe a vague "have fun with the acquisition." But this isn't really insubordination. He revealed almost nothing about the actual meeting. He just made a bunch of jokes because it's fun and they're trying very hard to show that they're still the same old TechCrunch despite their new owner.
- po 16y agoThe rest of the meeting, though, was designated as an “internal AOL meeting” and as such was strictly off the record. However, after giving that warning, the very next thing that Eun said was that we should all “keep doing what we do”. Here then are the details of the meeting… This is very funny. I wonder if he's actually putting himself in legal risk if he signed an employment contract and still did that.
- danilocampos 16y agoThere's no risk. Even if this isn't part of image maintenance, "AOL's TechCrunch fires writer for leaking orientation details" isn't really the headline I think anyone over there is looking for. And even if AOL were that bone-headed (they aren't), Paul Carr could ride the wave of the ensuing press to any other gig he wanted.
- ck2 16y agoBut AOL management/HR is that "bone-headed". When they closed their callcenters they gave no notice, everyone (1200+ people per center) showed up one day and they were all fired, even people who worked there for a decade or more.
- danilocampos 16y agoAOL has had scant need for callcenters for quite awhile, so I'll go out on a limb and guess this was a few years ago. So yeah, pretty boneheaded. Whenever it was, that may as well be a different company. Tim Armstrong's AOL, for example, offered buyouts to staff this year, and 1,100 took them up on it, before formal layoffs went down. So no more blindsiding, I think. Say what you want about AOL's clueless past (lol Randy Falco, etc) Armstrong is emphatically not an idiot and he's starting to earn my respect in the impossible job of turning that ship. Layoffs aside, remember that the TechCrunch acquisition has Armstrong's personal attention. Paul Carr isn't a mailroom clerk at a satellite office – he's a high profile component of a crown jewel that AOL has spent some real money to snag. That money was an investment in both people and reputation. Pissing away both over a little mischief that only furthers the public perception of the investment is just unfathomable. It would never get as far as AOL HR.
- shareme 16y agoThat money AOL invested.. goes to three people: MA, Heather, and one other person and no writers.. AOL overpaid for window dressing
- chrismiller 16y agoI refreshed the article twice before I realised the image was intentionally made to look half loaded. A subtle dig at AOL no doubt :)
- ck2 16y agoWow, playing with fire, though it's somewhat entertaining from this side. Keep in mind, AOL has no problem firing people. They used to have tens of thousands of call center workers in the states. Now all those workers are gone and replaced with re-routed overseas calls.
- jonah 16y agoI wonder what the breakdown of the payout is. I'm sure Arrington got a nice chunk of cash/stock, what about the other writers, developers, ad sales people, etc...
- aphexairlines 16y agoI don't see the point of posting digs at someone who just handed you millions and millions of dollars. Nobody forced TC to sell.
- jonursenbach 16y agoThis is also a Paul Carr article, so it's pretty much expected of him.
- prawn 16y agoIt'd be AOL-sanctioned and the intention would be to quickly give readers the impression that the acquisition won't change TC. Of course, by doing this, TC have changed.
- gvb 16y agoNitpick: they handed Michael Arrington millions, not Paul Carr.
- Tichy 16y agoBut what were the gifts? Restless mind wants to know.