Update: Full text of email is here.
While researching the AOL blogs budget cuts story this afternoon we stumbled on a much bigger story unfolding at AOL. The company is planning to shut down a number of non-performing products, say people with knowledge of the situation. The products, which include Xdrive, AOL Pictures, Bluestring and MyMobile, all fall under EVP Products and Marketing Kevin Conroy.
In an email to his staff on July 14, Conroy talked about the upcoming product reorganization. Some products will be shut down. Others will simply be ignored for the most part and fade into obscurity over time. The future of another slow growing product under Conroy, MyAOL, is also in question.
Conroy, who joined AOL in 2001, reports to President and COO Ron Grant. His peers include:
- Joanna Shields, EVP and President of People Networks. Shields is the former President of the recently acquired Bebo, and controls that property as well as AIM, ICQ, Goowy and Yedda.
- Bill Wilson, EVP Programming. Wilson controls AOL’s content sites, including the blogs, News, Movies, Lifestyle, and Celebrity Gossip. He’s seen as a rising star at AOL, with many of his properties growing rapidly.
- Ted Cahall, EVP Platforms and Technologies. Cahall owns search and provides engineering support to the other groups.
- Lynda Clarizio, EVP and President of Platform A. Calrizio runs the advertising arm of AOL.
Conroy has plenty of high profile properties left under his control, but insiders are wondering if each of them really belongs under one of the other execs’ groups. AOL Mail, for example, fits in naturally with social networking and instant messaging under Shields. MyAOL and the AOL client may be better under Wilson’s content group. The toolbar, Userplane and Truveo could all fall under Wilson or Cahall.
The real problem is that Conroy, unlike his peers, lacks any real product direction or mission. He has a hodge podge of properties and services that are either being shut down or really belong somewhere else.
Wow… a ton of qualified execs hitting the open market, especially considering yahoo’s situation. What a great opportunity for startups to take advantage of the situation….. http://www.gothamtechminute.blogspot.com
Kevin came from BMG (the record label) and headed up AOL Music originally. Does he still have responsibility for music (whatever it is AOL has these days)? Seems like that might belong with Bebo as well.
I received the email, Kevin is doing the right thing in managing the business. Maybe a year late but still the right thing. I applaud it. As stated he still has a number of high profile properties so I would not take this as a sign of anything more then managing the business.
Dan,
Bill Crandall actually heads up AOL Music - he joined the company a few years ago from Rolling Stone to head up Music, which has grown nicely over the years.
Is the AOL developer program impacted?
I have a request to AOL, please Open Source the XDrive Windows client code and also the server side on source forge. That way the FOSS community can build an open competitor to GDrive, .Mac and Windows SkyDrive.
Why not? It’s better than letting the code rot?
Look what happened to Eclipse.
TL - http://www.offur.com/BetterThanTechCrunch
Kevin is doing the right thing by getting out of areas that are not working. This is something Yahoo sorely needs to do. We’re focusing on what works.
FWIW, Kevin is very well regarded within AOL and also is recognized as the key figure in building AOL’s music footprint which is very strong.
AOL can’t seem to lose the attitude of deciding from the top what they want to do to their users while ignoring what users might be interested in.
Victor, the AOL Developer Program or AOL Developer Network is not impacted and it is very much alive and available at dev.aol.com
Why not invite bids for these products, instead of sun-setting them? I’m sure there are a lot of entriprising guys, and VCs, who would be willing to take the bet and spin them into marketable ideas - launch a global auction.
It’s true that we’ve been enduring the ups and downs of the Xdrive.com service for a while but we who believe in the product, the features, and the people who built the product and service now and since it’s inception are feeling sad today with the announcement of the ‘Sunsetting’ of the Xdrive.com service. Sorry to see you go old friend and we will miss you.
Maybe we will see AOL look to sell off this portion of their portfolio. Xdrive.com has survived many pit falls in the Online Storage industry however Xdrive.com always rose from the ashes each time too. The Thunderbird of Online Storage Xdrive.com; viva la Xdrive.com. We will see again I’m sure of it and I want to be there.
Via condeous Xdrive.com……
-XDMOlson
I think that Ravi is on to something — only why limit the bidding to just a few assets. Time Warner shareholders might benefit if all AOL assets were placed into an auction.
At least that ROI would be somewhat predictable, when compared to the death by a thousand cuts that’s left the company in its current state.
Parsons and Bewkes apparently don’t seem to have any better ideas.
Conroy, Liu, and all these other people who think they know how to build products should be canned. Blatant incompetence goes unaccounted for, but what’s new?
Maybe they should have dropped the vowels from all the product names … brilliant!