AOL CEO Apologizes For Public Firing

As detailed last week on The Inquisitr, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong fired a lead designer in a conference call in front of 1,000 employees last week. Patch Creative Director Abel Lenz was let go in a very public showing by Armstrong last Friday, in a clip that has since gone viral. TechCrunch posted Armstrong’s full apology on their site.

However, Business Insider insinuates that Armstrong may not have been happy with the new version of Patch.com. Lenz had been in charge of the redesign of the hyper-local news site. What is not clear, though, is the exact reasoning for Lenz’ sudden release. It is alleged that Lenz recorded private meetings on several occasions, and the CEO had asked him not to.

In the memo, Armstrong described the decision as “emotional,” and said that he acted quickly and that a “tremendous lesson” was learned from all this. Armstrong did say that he has since apologized to Lenz. He does not hint at whether or not Lenz will be able to return to AOL or Patch. Armstrong did say that he felt it was “unfair on a human level” to treat Lenz in such a manner.

Patch is in turmoil after the AOL CEO revealed to Wall Street analysts that there would be extensive cost cuts to the division. The purpose of the meeting was for Armstrong to reassure employees not to believe what the media was reporting about Patch’s problems. Armstrong said that any employees who don’t believe should “get out now.”

It is worth noting that Armstrong put the people in charge of Patch who he ended up letting go a short time later. Former Patch CEO Steve Kalin was canned a little more than a week ago, replaced by Bud Rosenthal. Four hundred AOL Patch sites have since been shut down or partnered with other sites to provide them with material.

Did the AOL CEO handle this the right way? If not, how could he have handled this better?