AOL's CEO fired this man in front of 1,000 coworkers
August 12, 2013, 9:19 am Business Insider
Tim Armstrong sacked Abel Lenz, creative director of its local news network Patch, on a conference call.
Abel Lenz (Photo: LinkedIn) was sacked by Tim Armstrong (Photo: Reuters).
Earlier today, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong fired Abel Lenz, Creative Director at AOL Patch.com, in front of 1,000 coworkers.
AOL is reducing the number of sites in its local news network, Patch, from 900 to 600.
Today, Armstrong hosted a conference call with Patch employees to explain the news.
During the call, according to a source, Armstrong told Lenz to "stop taking pictures." Then Armstrong said "You're fired."
Then there were a few seconds of silence. Then Armstrong resumed speaking.
A few minutes later, Armstrong complained about leaks to the media. He said the leaks were making Patch seem like "loser-ville" in the press.
He said, "That's why Abel was fired."
"We can't have people that are in the locker room giving the game plan away."
We were unable to get a comment from AOL on this story. A second source with direct knowledge of these events confirmed this story, and said that Lenz has been fired.
This source tells us that Lenz always took photos at Patch all-hands meetings. He would later post them to Patch's internal news site.
Lenz isn't answering his phone. When media reporter Jim Romenesko tweeted at him, Lenz replied: "I appreciate the interest Jim, but I have nothing to share. Go Patch!"
A source who was on the call said he initially believed Armstrong was joking, but that when Armstrong brought it up again, he sounded serious.
