Jason Calacanis Says Adios to AOL

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1. Eric Jackson
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:34 pm

   Miller fan?

   Eric
   http://breakoutperformance.blogspot.com

2. Eric Likness
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

   I’m non-plussed. Any Gillmor Gang listeners will be shocked as well I’m sure. Wasn’t Jason just trying to get Dan Farber to jump on one of the past shows? Strange indeed.

3. cg
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:50 pm

   is he already tired of running a billion dollar company?

4. ginchy
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:53 pm

   AOL is still around? Damn, next thing you know a plesiosaur will turn up off the coast of Florida.

5. Richard MacManus
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

   Ah, wouldn’t this affect Jason’s payout for weblogsinc?? I would imagine he’s supposed to be tied to AOL for a little while longer as part of the acquisition deal…. or is that period over?

6. cg
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

   did Calacanis pull a Vincent Ferrari and say “Cancel. The. Account.” ?

7. Cameron Barrett
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 1:00 pm

   “AOL is still around? Damn, next thing you know a plesiosaur will turn up off the coast of Florida.”

   You mean Katherine Harris?

8. /pd
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

   yes , Richard, there is the always the claw back (employment) period after an M&A. Jason just capitlized on that clause. The period is this case Could have been 1 yr !!

9. wayne lambright
   

   November 16th, 2006 at 1:23 pm

   Jason Calacanis is a rock star in my book; here is a good interview from Venture Voice, it worth listening to if you are entrepreneur.

   http://www.venturevoice.com/20......html#more

10. Easton Ellsworth
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    Thanks for the breaking news as always. Amazing how fast news flies nowadays. Calacanis makes a move and all the blog networks ought ot be watching.

11. j.d.a.
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 1:56 pm

    great news really. i can’t wait to see where he ends up, or rather what he ends up starting next.

12. TR
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:04 pm

    Calcannis got away with murder with this acquisition from the beginning and if you read his blog, he often ridiculed his acquiring company. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

    The fact that these guys were doing 1mm in revenue and then got bought for 20mm, is crazy to me. I mean, come on - 20x revenue!?!??!?! I cannot believe AOL bought these guys - what did they gain really? He is a good hype machine but from silicon alley reporter to his weblogs, i have never been very impressed with the substance of his products. To me, he always comes off as petulant and self-serving. I wouldn’t be surprised if AOL let him go because he did not know how to play nice with the other kids in the sandbox.

13. Congie Chunga
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:07 pm

    Space, the final frontier.

14. Arsalan
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:12 pm

    “He also spoke to me off the record but that’s, well, off the record.”

    Getting a little full of ourselves, aren’t we Mike?

15. Pimpin'
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:23 pm

    Without Jason, what’s next for netscape?

16. xi
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:38 pm

    netscape is still around?

17. Robert Dewey
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:46 pm

    Arsalan;

    I believe it’s called full disclosure.

    As for the 20x revenue - there’s nothing new there. They aren’t just buying the revenue, they are buying the name, the users, future potential, and entrance into “Web 2.0″.

    My thoughts about Jason were negative at one point, but things have been cleared up. He tried his best at AOL/Netscape, so you can’t bash the guy.

18. Alaska Miller
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:48 pm

    to those of you quipping about AOL and netscape is still around pretending to show wit: only shows your ignorance.

19. Mike Rundle
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:50 pm

    Arsalan you’re an idiot…. if it’s off the record then Jason’s trusting Mike not to talk about it, which he’s obviously abiding by. There’s no ego-pumping, Jason said things to Mike he didn’t want published on TC and there’s nothing wrong with that.

    From what I’ve read about the new head of AOL, he’s not a worthy replacement. Jon Miller was agile and fast-thinking, and the new CEO comes from a “big business” background that Google will now just rollover in stride. The goal is for a big company to act more like a little one, not the other way around, but obviously the board at AOL never got that memo.

20. Nick
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:56 pm

    While I’m not a fan of Calacanis and I welcome AOL’s demise, anyone who says AOL paid too much for WIN is flat wrong. WIN is making $10-15 million a year now. The question is does AOL even care about spending $25 million or making $15 million a year? I doubt it.

21. Dion
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Now we will see Dan Farber and Jason C joining TechCrunch to grow the network

22. Outfoxed
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Yes, what is going to happen to Netscape now?

23. TR
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:00 pm

    Robert Dewey: you are out of your mind!

    What in weblogs has:
    1) a name? are there any brands there?
    2) the users - show me critical mass via comscore or even alexa…the big 3 need scale to make material impact on revenue…come on! They have made nearly 0 incremental impact on revenue and have no prospects to in the next 1-2 years.
    3) entrance into “Web 2.0″ - what does this even mean? you have got to stop eating your own dog food and chasing your long tail!

24. Nick
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:14 pm

    TR: Forget what he said. It doesn’t matter. WIN is making 8 figures. End of story. AOL bought it to make themselves look cutting edge. Plain as that. Now it pays for itself but it’s not gonna do anything to save the company.

25. Ivysport
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:16 pm

    It took TW COO Jeff Bewkes to convice Jon Miller to let go of AOL subscriptions and trust a pure ad model. Don’t be surprised to see TW’s stock finally start to move upward. Jason is just a casualty of Miller more than likely.

26. TR
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:22 pm

    Interesting Nick. I actually think AOL has turned a corner…ad sales are rocking and they are #2 to google, beating out Yahoo now. Subscription revenue aside, the have a ton of momentum on the ad sales front with no signs of that stopping.

27. Jonas
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:28 pm

    concerning the “off the record” discussion, is it likely that Calacanis would say “nah, I’m staying with AOL” off the record to Mike and he then would make a post like this? My guess would be no. How much off the record is off the record….

28. Robert Dewey
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:30 pm

    TR;

    I’m speaking in general terms.

    Most people seem to think that an acquisition is simply about purchasing another company solely for its revenue stream. Since AOL purchased Weblogs when they weren’t at “critical mass” as you say, means it wasn’t being purchased for it’s revenue. Instead, look at my other points; future potential / entrance into “Web 2.0″.

    I should have used an “and/or” instead of “and”.

    BTW… I try to be as far out of my mind as possible. That’s where “thinking outside the box (or skull)” takes place.

29. McD
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:33 pm

    Jason is an entrepreneur. It’s great to know that he’ll be starting his next project. His creative energy is still intact… He knows the models that work but he MAY decide to put his energy into building something a bit different… somethig that keeps score using some new metrics. It will be interesting to see what he does next.

    I always felt his time at AOL would be limited to the timeframes of the acquisition contract. He’s just NOT a corporate politician… he’s way too
    candid about his business dealings.

    AOL hiring a TV guy is interesting as well… but hopefully, Jason will (after the dust settles) tell some of the inside stories from this power shift.

30. Spud
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:36 pm

    Is this a loss or a gain for AOL?

31. Sean
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:47 pm

    AOL? Netscape?

32. Mindspeakr
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 3:50 pm

    Mike - did Jason tell you it was okay to say “on record” that he told you about it “off record?” If not, that’s a major breach of trust and established practice among journalists and bloggers. If your policy is different, it should be disclosed up front.

33. Drama 2.0
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 4:07 pm

    Damn. I hope this doesn’t mean I won’t be receiving my $1,000 check this month.

34. ABCota
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

    Why is the news, really? I mean, does this really surprise us?

35. kenji mori
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 4:45 pm

    I remember Jason once told in the Gillmore gang that he would never give up. Even if he resigned from AOL, he will continue what he was pursuing somewhere else.

36. Wicked Smahtie
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

    I recently escaped the AOL asylum. Jason is a self-promoting user, quick to dish blame and scorn, quicker to dodge responsibility (e.g., for Netscape’s decline since his much-ballyhooed relaunch), but quickest of all to lick the boots of his superiors — and anyone doubting this clearly hasn’t read today’s “Jon Miller is a dreamy samurai” post at calacanis.com.

    (Jon Miller is many things — not all of them bad — but a samurai? Maybe to the entrepreneurs he’s made richer, but certainly not to the thousands of AOLers who needed leadership, and got… Miller.)

    As to him leaving now… Could be that his earn-out included a “change-of-CEO” exit equivalent, or that the company — sick, as all AOL’s line employees are, of his LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! antics — concluded it didn’t need him (which it doesn’t — or not nearly as much as it needs Weblogs’ ad revenue).

37. John Doe
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 5:29 pm

    I DON’T BUY IT.

    I know some of us are thinking the same thing here and that he was probably fired after they replaced the AOL CEO.

    If he was truly fired, what did he have to do to opt for resigning rather then being fired.

    MORE IMPORTANT, I wonder if this will end up being the hottest digg topic ever …

38. j.d.a.
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 5:31 pm

    Wicked - I won’t say you’re wrong, but his ‘look at me, look at me’ attitude got people in the tech community to actually look at AOL and Netscape which is more than anyone else at AOL was doing.

39. JOHN DOE
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 5:36 pm

    Hmmmmmmmmmmm:

    Well, if he is going to quit or the best time for AOL to fire someone, I guess it would be prior to the event of TECHCRUNCH Nueva Yorka …

    Weird coincidence.

40. JOHN DOE
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 5:39 pm

    DUDE, what is up with the name of one of the sponsors for techcrunch NY, buddylube.com

    I was all expecting some type of lubricration product or character avatar creation.

    The song alone is enough reason to visit the website.

    VISIT THE WEBSITE …………. SERIOUSLY VISIT ………. BUDDYLUBE.com …………….. IT IS TO DIE FOR …….

41. Wicked Smahtie
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:14 pm

    j.d.a. — whatever attention Jason drew to AOL says more about AOL’s piss-poor corporate communications capabilities than it does about Jason’s success.

    And I’d argue that line employees like Carnell and Lawver and many others did and do a h*ll of a lot more for AOL’s visibility and credibility in the tech community than Jason ever did.

    (TechCrunch, Valleywag, GigaOM etc. readers “tech community”)

42. Wicked Smahtie
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:16 pm

    … sorry — that should have read:

    (TechCrunch, Valleywag, GigaOM etc. readers [not equal to] “tech community”)

43. Sorcerer
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pm

    I echo Wicked Smahtie’s comments that Jason is a self-promoter. Look at how his ostensible “tribute” to Jon Miller turned the attention right back on Jason himself with his self-serving ending “Note: I’ve gotten a bunch of press folks contacting me about my future at AOL now that Ted Leonsis and Jon Miller are no longer with the company.”

    And as for John Doe’s idea that “some of us are thinking the same thing here and that he was probably fired after they replaced the AOL CEO.” Sorry. The ink isn’t dry on Falco’s contract to take over a multi-billion dollar company. He has much, much bigger issues to deal with than Jason, Weblogs and Netscape.

44. Dave Zatz
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:28 pm

    I heard Nick Denton is replacing Calacanis at AOL and that Calacanis is starting a new blog empire and has hired Nick Douglas to lead the vanguard with a bay-area insider site called ValleyCrunch. Fox Interactive had no comment. ;)

45. Rich
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:35 pm

    Mike Rundle, you’re an idiot:
    “From what I’ve read about the new head of AOL, he’s not a worthy replacement. Jon Miller was agile and fast-thinking, and the new CEO comes from a “big business” background that Google will now just rollover in stride. The goal is for a big company to act more like a little one, not the other way around, but obviously the board at AOL never got that memo.”

    As I wrote on another blog: Jon Miller oversaw the decline of the aol membership from ~25M to between 15M-18M, depending on how they’re counting members these days. His leadership was… ahem… no existent. Fast-thinking? It took four years for him to have the balls, err, “leadership” to switch to a free service. That’s fast-thinking?

    Jon Miller announced a massive re-org last August that still is not complete. What? He woke up one morning with an epiphany that a re-org was necessary, then has taken 4 months to do this? That’s fast-thinking?

    The reasoning for this re-org is that AOL needs to transition to a “product-led company.” It’s been, ahem, led by what under his tenure? It took four years for this epiphany? That’s fast-thinking?

    Anything good that came out of AOL under his tenure was done despite him, not because of him. I challenge anyone to provide facts otherwise.

    Rich

46. RT-20
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 6:46 pm

    Who cares if he leaves or not. If he can stick his hand in a bucket of water and pull it out and it leaves a hole in the water then he will be missed. I am sure that is not the case with him

47. David Mackey
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

    What will he do once he’s left?

48. Kevin Rose
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    I’ve got something he can do……

    >>
    David Mackey
    November 16th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

    What will he do once he’s left?

49. Pramit Singh
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 9:27 pm

    It is a pity. I thought Jason would change AOL into a nimble web 2.0 workhorse.

50. Dan...
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 10:17 pm

    Let me be the first to share that Jason has joined PayPerPost to lead PPP’s PayPerDiggipedia division.

51. Milo Riano
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 10:23 pm

    Rich — you didn’t think Mike Rundle was a genius, did you? Maybe he can send his resume for the position.

52. sr
    

    November 16th, 2006 at 10:50 pm

    The netscape.com website was transformed from a semi-decent
    portal to a digg-clone joke of a website….those responsible
    better be held accountable.

53. HART (1-800-HART)
    

    November 17th, 2006 at 12:45 am

    I don’t read any of the weblogs now - and I never did. I personally do not use Netscape nor do I like it. But I also don’t read digg although I often vote for items around the ‘net if I like it.

    But there’s a reason Jason’s personal blog is on my daily read list in my Bloglines and always watch all of the podcasts or vidcasts that pops up around the http://www. Got a lot of respect for the guy, what he’s done and what he says .. and I wait for the success of his next project (and hopefully more RSS feeds to add to my Bloglines).

    This isn’t news to me (where i.e. the Duncan story is).. didn’t we all expect it after some standard time after the acquistion? But, there are a lot of links out there from my other bloglines linking back to this entry so I thought I would post my 2cents here // Take care // HART

54. Tessa
    

    November 17th, 2006 at 4:01 am

    Fantastic news!!! Can we have the old Netscape back now?

55. sparky
    

    November 17th, 2006 at 7:09 am

    Great job Calcanis, what’s the total usage of Netscape.com now? 10% of what it use to be? Good riddance, Maybe AOL will hire back everyone you helped to layoff.

56. laurence haughton
    

    November 17th, 2006 at 11:22 am

    You can’t make stuff like this up…

    From Calcanis’s blog tribute to Miller: “When I arrived at AOL I knew how to build a $10-15M a year company. It’s a year later and I now know how to run a billion dollar business. For that, Jon, I’ll always be thankful.”

57. JD Lasica
    

    November 18th, 2006 at 9:55 pm

    Uh, Michael, grabbing my photo of Jason is cool, but how about an attribution? :~)

    http://www.newmediamusings.com.....canis.html

58. Spike
    

    November 19th, 2006 at 8:31 pm

    Thank god. Calcanis is a waste of reproductive fluids. He did nothing more than drive users away in droves, shamelessly self-promote to a nauseating degree and use and abuse his position to advance….himself.

    He left because he didn’t get taken seriously as an exec. In fact, he was often ridiculed to the point where his name became an synonym for self-aggrandizing bufoonery. “Excuse me, but did you just calcanis?