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randy falco
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mysteries
michael birch
Even Bebo's cofounder thinks AOL's $850 million is a joke
Poor AOL CEO Randy Falco. He believes that acquiring the social network Bebo for $850 million put AOL in a "leading position" in social networking. Everyone else thinks the buy was a joke — including Bebo cofounder Michael Birch. Asked at an event yesterday about the purchase price, Birch said, "850 million is an interesting number. It's a lot bigger than some numbers and a lot smaller than some numbers. It's not a prime number." Asked how AOL bid itself up to $850 million, Birch said $800 million of it was due Bebo's popularity in Fiji. "Fiji is an up-and-coming market," the Birch told the crowd. Don't wonder why he's so giddy. Birch and his cofounder, his wife Xochi, earned $595 million on the deal.
aol
Falco's takeaway from the Yahoo mess: what people actually want is AOL
While Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Yahoo's Jerry Yang exchange angry letters over the fate of their companies, AOL CEO Randy Falco has this for his legions:It's clear that the industry is in a state of extreme flux. Each day brings new rumored combinations of companies. But what's not surprising is AOL's appeal in this rapidly changing environment. The market is recognizing the value of what we've built together over the past year and a half.Yes, Randy, it's all about you. Falco's whole memo, below. More »
acquisitions
Now Ballmer and Murdoch versus Yang, Schmidt and Falco?
News Corp. is now discussing a possible joint takeover bid for Yahoo with Microsoft, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Yahoo is now discussing combining Internet operations with Time Warner-owned America Online as part of a three-fold move to stave off the takeover bid that includes teaming up with AOL, buying back much of the company's stock and running search ads from Google. Analysts quoted in the Journal still suggest the sale to Microsoft is a fait accompli, and that Yahoo is just trying to get CEO Steve Ballmer and company to cough up a higher bid for shares.
bebo
Bebo buy was AOL CEO's super-duper secret
AOL CEO Randy Falco and President Ron Grant — check out the photo and you'll see why the rank and file call them "Smithers and Burns" — kept plans to buy fourth-place social network Bebo secret from AOL's other top execs. Acquisitions talks are often kept quiet, but BoomTown sources say Falco and Grant were more secretive than usual. Can't say we blame them. The exchange — "We're targeting Bebo." "Who?" — has to get old.
"Compared to the $6.1 billion Microsoft paid for aQuantive and the $3 billion Google paid for DoubleClick I feel we have done a pretty good job here." — AOL CEO Randy Falco, explaining that the fact that his predecessor, Jonathan Miller, spent $435 million to buy Advertising.com somehow makes up for the $850 million Falco just spent on Bebo. [Guardian]
acquisitions
In Bebo, AOL landed what News Corp., Google, Yahoo and CBS didn't want
Before agreeing to sell to AOL for $850 million, Bebo president Joanna Shields tried to sell the company to News Corp., Google, Yahoo and CBS. Didn't happen. Bebo gets too little traffic in the U.S., sources from those companies told BoomTown. Microscopic revenues probably didn't help Bebo reach its hoped-for $1 billion pricetag, either. In 2006, Bebo revenues were $7 million, with just $3 million in EBITDA — Wall Street's favored measure of operating profit. Last year, total revenues climbed to $20 million, $5 million in EBITDA. So that's a price-to-earnings ratio of 160. Oh, maybe AOL CEO Randy Falco's valuing it on growth, you say? Let's run those numbers. More »
the chart
Does Bebo brag prove AOL CEO's a liar, or just unable to read?
AOL CEO Randy Falco said the $850 million Bebo acquisition put his company in "a leading position" in social networks. Too bad his claim doesn't jibe with ComScore's chart comparing Bebo's traffic to social networks MySpace and Facebook, above. Where was "human computer" Ron Grant when Falco needed him to do some math? Below, more damning stats from Hitwise. More »
great moments in indoor gardening
AOL CEO Randy Falco hates plants
You might hate your job, but you've got it better than the office plants at AOL's former headquarters in Dulles. A tipster writes:I work for AOL in Dulles. AOL celebrated the start of the new year by cutting the budget for watering all the indoor office plants all over Dulles. We came in to find "adopt a plant" posters hung up in the common areas with a corny rhyme about not letting the plants die. Now they're starting to wilt and go black, leaning helplessly against nearby walls or concrete pillars. It's pathetic. Some people inquired about taking them home (there are nice established ficus trees and palms etc.) and were told to either water them, or let them die, at which point they would be removed. I hate symbolism at work.More »
aol
Falco glad to see Microsoft, Yahoo, Google "beat each other's brains out"
What does AOL topper Randy Falco think of Microsoft's hostile Yahoo takeover? He hopes it bloodies both parties and Google, too. "I hope they beat each other's brains out over search and leave the display market to us," Falco said at the IAB conference. He cited the wisdom of a role model: "I think it's a mistake. But I think Napoleon said never interrupt your enemy when they're in the middle of making a mistake." Falco hasn't been this nasty since he mocked laid-off AOL employees last Christmas. What gives? More »
100-word version
Randy Falco's AOL holiday missive
AOL CEO Randy Falco is a lot like Santa Claus, really. Why, he's downright jolly when laying people off, and he has an uncanny ability to fly whenever and whereever he wants. So who better to pen a year-end missive to rally the elves? Here's that letter, conveniently downsized to just 100 words. More »
schwag
More AOL layoff T-shirts, just in time for the holidays!
Looking for that perfect holiday gift for the suddenly ex-AOLer in your life? Look no further than Valleywag tipster "Bob Zmuda," whose latest additions to the T-shirt line are now on Flickr. Our favorite? Zmuda's commemoration of AOL's 2007 Christmas party. That's the one soon-to-be-laid-off employees weren't invited to, thus discovering their fate. More »
randy falco
AOL CEO mocks laid-off employees
It may not be Christmas yet, but AOL CEO Randy Falco is feeling downright jolly despite the company's recent layoffs of thousands of employees. At a roast held in his honor by the Center for Communication, Falco traded quips with execs from NBC Universal, where he worked before joining AOL. After his former colleagues made fun of laid-off AOLers, Falco proceeded to play an audio recording of a call where he supposedly pitched incoming Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes on switching AOL from a subscription business to advertising. One small problem: Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, the man whom Falco replaced, actually came up with that idea. So, to review: More »
rumormonger
AOL, meet the new boss
Come January, Jeff Bewkes will be Time Warner's new CEO, displacing Dick Parsons. The change was widely expected since Bewkes's appointment as chief operating officer in 2005. That's also when AOL, for the first time, fell under Bewkes's command. AOL CEO Randy Falco was widely seen as a Bewkes hire, and Bewkes's hand was also seen in the purchase of Tacoda, an ad-targeting firm headed by Curt Viebranz, who formerly worked for Bewkes at HBO. The most intriguing rumor I've heard: When things settle down at AOL, Falco could be headed upstairs to fill Bewkes's recently vacated COO spot — and Viebranz would then become AOL's next CEO. More »
aol
Your 2007 commemorative layoff souvenirs
Welcome to D-Day, AOL employees! Today is the reported day when 2,000 AOL employees will be released into the wild. Your consolation prize? Four to 12 months' severance and, we hear, lump-sum payments of up to $50,000 to make up for missed bonuses. Not satisfied with that? Valleywag reader bobzmudaguy has created a line of commemorative T-shirts to recognize this momentous occasion. Our favorite? This one, celebrating the Smithers and Burns relationship between AOL head Randy Falco and his lackey, COO Ron Grant. We hope, for the pint-sized Grant's sake, that the shirts come in extra-extra-small, to go along with the size of his layoff-loving heart. (Photo by bobzmudaguy) More »
aol
AOL layoffs confirmed, 2,000 to go
VIENNA, VA. — AOL CEO Randy Falco has, at long last, confirmed the obvious in an email to all AOL employees. His company is laying off 2,000 employees — less than our earlier tipster had suggested, but more than some had expected. A few notes: Falco says AOL has 10,000 employees, which is 2,000 lower than some estimates, suggesting that he may have, as rumored, already eliminated a substantial number of employees through rolling layoffs. Kara Swisher at AllThingsD has the full letter to employees, reproduced here after the jump. More »
rumormonger
VIENNA, VA. — A source close to AOL's upcoming layoffs has shared numbers exclusively with Valleywag. The expected body count? 4,000 — a third of the estimated 12,000-person staff of the pain-wracked Internet giant. (Update: In a companywide email, CEO Randy Falco now says 2,000 employees out of a shrunken staff of 10,000 will be laid off.) The Dulles, Va. headquarters alone will see 400 jobs eliminated. Member Services, the organization responsible for AOL's rapidly defecting dialup customers, may get cut by as much as 90 percent. A data center in Reston, Va. is closing, with the facility up for sale, and another one in nearby Manassas could be on the block in the future. As deep as those cuts go, however, they may not be all. Remember the old adage "Measure twice, cut once?" Don't worry — neither do AOL CEO Randy Falco and COO Ron Grant.
More »
AOL layoff details revealed
VIENNA, VA. — A source close to AOL's upcoming layoffs has shared numbers exclusively with Valleywag. The expected body count? 4,000 — a third of the estimated 12,000-person staff of the pain-wracked Internet giant. (Update: In a companywide email, CEO Randy Falco now says 2,000 employees out of a shrunken staff of 10,000 will be laid off.) The Dulles, Va. headquarters alone will see 400 jobs eliminated. Member Services, the organization responsible for AOL's rapidly defecting dialup customers, may get cut by as much as 90 percent. A data center in Reston, Va. is closing, with the facility up for sale, and another one in nearby Manassas could be on the block in the future. As deep as those cuts go, however, they may not be all. Remember the old adage "Measure twice, cut once?" Don't worry — neither do AOL CEO Randy Falco and COO Ron Grant.
More »
layoffs
