$AOL’s COO To Leave by Year End

“AOL AOL -2.03% Chief Operating Officer Artie Minson plans to leave the company by year-end, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a restructuring that the company announced Thursday that eliminates his position and brings in media veteran Susan Lyne to oversee some of AOL’s content properties.

The shuffle comes just eight months after AOL CEO Tim Armstrong promoted Mr. Minson to what was then a newly created COO position from his previous post as chief financial officer. Now AOL says it is seeking to decentralize its top management.

Mr. Minson, who had been seen as one of Mr. Armstrong’s most trusted lieutenants, also had differences over strategy with Mr. Armstrong, say people familiar with the matter. They say Mr. Minson disagreed with Mr. Armstrong on how the company was running the Huffington Post and its Patch network of local news sites, believing they required restructuring. However, people familiar with Mr. Armstrong’s thinking say that Patch, which Mr. Armstrong co-founded, wasn’t a factor in the restructuring. Mr. Minson declined to comment…..”

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