Search results for "aol"
AOL to Nix 2,500 Jobs; Asks for Volunteers
AOL is looking to cut 2,500 jobs. Before they go through the tough choice of choosing who to let go, they're asking if anyone wants to volunteer to get the axe. Oh, how I've been there and oh, how this sucks for AOL-ers. Goodbye, productivity. Hello, everyone trying to figure out if they're safe. At least the process seems to have a defined endpoint. AOL says they expect to incur $200 million in costs from "re-structuring" and that those costs will incur before the December 9 spinoff date....
Bing and Google Both Gain Half Point in October 2009 comScore Rankings
comScore has released their search market share rankings for October 2009 and the news is good for both Google and Bing - they both gained 0.5% in search share. This came at the expense of Yahoo! who lost 0.8% and AOL, which lost 0.1%. Ask.com stayed steady. After experiencing a slowdown in the rate of growth in September, Bing is back on the momentum it was gaining since launch last June. Bing has now gained 1.9% share since launch. At first, Bing's growth came at Google's expense. As of this new report, Google has recouped all losses, while Bing keeps...
Ask.com Sharpens Focus on Q&A
When Internet users conduct searches at Ask.com, they pose their keywords as questions three times more than any other search engine. So, it makes sense that Ask.com is focused on improving the Q&A experience on their site and on the web. Last summer, Ask launched a specific Q&A section with 300 million Q&A pairs in their database. They've recently reached the milestone of reaching 400 million Q&A pairs. Adding 100 million Q&A pairs in 5 months is impressive indeed. But Ask's focus on Q&A is not *just* about finding pairs and serving them up in search results. Ask.com has big...
AOL Spinoff to Occur on December 9, 2009
Last spring, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL as an independent company. The announcement was made shortly after hiring Tim Armstrong away from Google as President. This fall, they've named members to the future Board of Directors and hired key financial executives needed to run the publicly traded company. Now, we know that AOL's independence day is December 9, 2009. All Time Warner stockholders as of 5pm on November 27, 2009 will receive 1 AOL share for every 11 shares of Time Warner. AOL has openly talked about their focus on content, in ways reminiscent of Yahoo!...
AOL Completes Financial Team, Names Additional Board Member in Advance
In preparation for being spun off from Time Warner, AOL has hired executives to their financial team and announced one additional board member. Here's a list of the financial execs: Mike Suffredini - Vice President and Treasurer Eoin Ryan - Vice President of Investor Relations Don Neff, currently a Senior Vice President of Finance, will become Senior Vice President of Internal Audit. Ned Brody - rejoining the company as Executive Vice President of Paid Services Meanwhile, Susan Lyne, Chief Executive Officer of the online luxury retailer Gilt Groupe, Inc. has been named to the Board of Directors. Last week, AOL...
AOL Ad Revenues Decline by 18% in Q3 2009
Time Warner has reported its earnings for the third quarter of 2009 and the news isn't so pretty for AOL. Overall revenues declined 23% to $777 million. The decline resulted from an 18% decrease in advertising revenues as well as a 29% decline in subscription revenues. Time Warner said the decline in ad revenues was due to lower paid search and display ads on AOL Media, reduced ad sales on third party sites and foreign exchange rates. AOL averaged 102 million U.S. unique visitors per month and 44 billion domestic page views, which translates to 144 pages per unique visitor....
MSN Redesign Relies on Structured Data from Bing
After looking pretty much the same for almost a decade, one of the top three internet starting points is finally getting a facelift. MSN is debuting its new look, which you can preview here, and Bing is playing a central role in the overhaul - though it won't always be so obvious to the user. MSN will be relying on structured data gathered from Bing to inform content featured on the new homepage. This includes new modules for local news and all of MSN's shopping will be powered by Bing. MSN will also rely on data about what people are...
MapQuest Gets a Fresh Coat of Paint
Earlier this week, Google updated the look of its mapping service and now MapQuest has done the same. The goal is to improve readability and give more accurate details such has a building's proportional footprint compared to the streets around it. Additionally, MapQuest says they've added new imagery for terrain and vegetation for Levels 4-9. Here's before and after screenshots of Philadelphia, per the official MapQuest blog:...
AOL Names Nine Board Members for Post-Time Warner Separation
Once AOL is spinned off from Time Warner, it will require a Board of Directors. Today, nine members were named. They are: Richard L. Dalzell made a name for himself at Amazon, where he started held a variety of executive-level roles from 1997 until 2007. Prior to Amazon, Dalzell was VP of Information Systems at Walmart. Karen E. Dykstra is a partner at Plainfield Asset Management LLC, and has been COO and CFO of Plainfield Direct Inc. since 2006. Plainfield manages investment capital for institutions and high net worth individuals. Prior to joining Plainfield, Dykstra was the CFO of Automatic...
AOL's Cahall Appointed to New Virginia Tech Board
The state of Viriginia has created a new technology board called the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority (IEIA). The thirteen-member board will consist of 12 citizen members and the state's Secretary of Technology. Of the 12 citizen members, three will be presidents of state higher-education institutions, three each appointed by the governor, state senate and state house. AOL's Chief Technology Officer, Ted Cahall, has received one of the three state senate appointments. "The IEIA is an important new organization that will help enhance Virginia's role as a world technology leader, and I'm honored to have been selected to be a...
Bing's Growth Slows, Google Recoups Losses in comScore September 2009 Report
comScore has released their search engine share report for September 2009 and we're seeing yet another twist in the "Can Bing catch up with Google?" saga. You may remember that Bing has been on quite a roll since launch gaining over 1 percentage point, with Google and Yahoo! trading off the losses. Well, the tides began to turn last month, with Google regaining 0.3% of its loss and Bing gaining another 0.1% in share, which is not the rate of growth they have been experiencing. This time, Yahoo! suffered the losses with a 0.5% decline. Ask.com and AOL held steady....
Another Ex-Googler Heads to AOL
AOL has tapped Shashi Seth as Senior Vice President of Global Advertising Products. Seth was formerly with Cooliris and before that was at Google. Prior to leaving Google, he was charged with the difficult task of developing monetization strategies for YouTube. Seth previously was the Product Lead for Web Search at Google. Seth also spent time at eBay, where he managed APIs & Platform. Before that, he launched Gap's online stores. Seth began his career at NASA. "Shashi is unmatched in the industry as an innovator with an outstanding track record of developing new and better ways to serve advertisers...
Bing Continues to Boom, At Google's Expense
The August 2009 search rankings by comScore are out and the news continues to be good for Bing. Microsoft sites grabbed an additional 0.4% share. Meanwhile, Google lost 0.1% share as did AOL, which is powered by Google search. Yahoo! and Ask.com remained steady. This brings Bing's market share gains since launch to 1.3% and Google's loss since Bing's launch to 0.4%. (See July and June data for reference.) Meanwhile, Bing experienced the biggest growth among the top 5 in search queries, at 7%, outpacing the percentage growth of overall searches as well....
Ex-Yahoo! and Author of 'Peanut Butter Manifesto' Brad Garlinghouse Heads to AOL
In 2006, Brad Garlinghouse made waves at Yahoo! by releasing the "Peanut Butter Manifesto," which outlined a bunch of organizational and administrative problems he felt Yahoo! had. As senior vice president at the time, he felt Yahoo! was spread thin and needed focus, leadership, and accountability. During the turbulence that accompanied the post-Microsoft acquisition rejection, Garlinghouse left Yahoo! Now, he's been tapped to run Internet and mobile communications at AOL. He'll be based in Silicon Valley. Garlinghouse isn't the only big name to join AOL. Tim Armstrong left Google to run AOL earlier this year....
Global Searches Increase by 41% Compared to a Year Ago
comScore has released global search market data showing that search is still on the rise in a big way all across the world. Overall, more than 113 billion searches were conducted in July 2009, up 41% compared to the year prior. Google dominated the market with 76 billion searches. No other search engine came close to that number of searches. All the major search engines saw increases except for AOL. Yahoo! and Baidu were the only search engines to see single digit growth, while Russian search engine Yandex grew a whopping 94% Europe enjoys the highest share of searches, at...
Microsoft Lobbyists Meet to Thwart Google; Politics as Usual Ensues
Daily Finance, an AOL site, is reporting that Microsoft's lobbyists hold weekly meetings where the discussion revolves around taking on Google. In attendance are consultants and others who oppose Google. The meetings have become known as "screw Google" meetings by DC insiders. I used to work in politics. I used to work in DC. These type of meetings happen all the time, in all sorts of industries and with all sorts of issues. It's not a Microsoft or Google thing. It's not a Democrat or Republican thing. It's a politics thing. Google lobbyists meet to discuss Microsoft, I would assume....
Bing Only Search Engine in Top 5 to Gain in July 2009 (And For Two Months Straight)
comScore has released their search market share rankings for July 2009 and Bing continues to gain share. In June, they gained 0.4% share and last month, they gained 0.5% share. That's almost 1% since launch, which I personally find impressive. Google and Yahoo! are the losers, both losing 0.3% in share last month. Ask and AOL held steady with no gains or losses. Bing was also the only search to grow its total search queries in July 2009. This also happened in June, when Bing was the only one to gain. Bing saw 3% gains in search queries in June,...
Yahoo! SEC Filing Reveals Details on Search Deal with Microsoft
This week, Yahoo! submitted an 8-k filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pertaining to the new search deal they've struck with Microsoft. In it are more details on how the plan would unfold. For the first 3 years of the plan, Microsoft will pay Yahoo! $50 million annually. This is in addition to the 88% revenue share from search advertising on Yahoo! and partner sites. This type of revenue is something investors wanted. When the announcement of the deal first came out, only the revenue sharing was said to be part of the deal. This $50 million per...
AOL Adds 'Real-Time Topics' to Home Page
AOL is the latest to get into the "real-time" publishing game. They've added Real-Time Topics to each section of news on their homepage. When you click on a link in the Real-Time Topics section, it will take you to Love.com, a site that tracks buzz and hot stories....
Stephane Panier Named by AOL as Global Head of Bebo
To fill the top position of global operations at Bebo, AOL (which acquired the social network last year), promoted from within. VP and COO Stephane Panier will now oversee advancing the social network worldwide. "Stephane is a proven strategist and operator with executive experience from some of the world's leading brands and businesses," said Brod. "He is the ideal leader to build on Bebo's existing successes, to chart a course for its future, and to execute against that vision." Prior to joining Bebo this past January, Panier worked at Google for six years, holding upper level management positions in Finance...
