

Highlights From Yesterday’s Secret “Welcome To AOL” Meeting - davidedicillo
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/01/eh-oh-well/

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chrismiller
I refreshed the article twice before I realised the image was intentionally
made to look half loaded. A subtle dig at AOL no doubt :)

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alextp
Is this an "in-your-face" resignation letter?

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mycroftiv
I can't tell if this is _actual_ insubordination, or an AOL-approved PR move
designed to emphasize that Techcrunch will still be pugnacious.

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jackowayed
I 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.

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aphexairlines
I don't see the point of posting digs at someone who just handed you millions
and millions of dollars. Nobody forced TC to sell.

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prawn
It'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.

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ck2
Wow, 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.

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Tichy
But what were the gifts? Restless mind wants to know.

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po
_The 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.

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danilocampos
There'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.

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ck2
But 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.

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danilocampos
AOL 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.

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shareme
That money AOL invested..

goes to three people: MA, Heather, and one other person and no writers..

AOL overpaid for window dressing

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jonah
I 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...

