A kind tipster sends the following memo, said to be AOL CEO Randy Falco's year-end missive to remaining AOLers.No real news. Frank acknowledgment of state of AOL a year ago. Congratulations on jobs well done. Quick acknowledgment of vast firings. Recitation of some encouraging facts about Unique Visitors and Page Views. Passing mention of teammate Ron Grant, who a few months ago was perhaps the most loathed person in the company. Outline of what's coming in 2008.Highlights and full memo below. What I found
when I arrived was a company with many strengths and a rich heritage,
but one that still needed a lot of work to complete the transformation
from a subscription business to an advertising business. Frankly, there was more to do than I had expected -- and much of it
had to be done quickly. Page views were in rapid decline. Many of our
key products were one, two or more generations behind our competitors
and were underinvested. We had not focused on a meaningful
international strategy. Our advertising business needed additional
investment. And we still had a ways to go to make sure our cost
structure and our organization were properly aligned to support our
future as an ad-supported Web business. AOL News Unique Visitors are up 8%
for the year and Page Views are up 11%; Sports UVs are up 4% and PVs up 11%;
Money & Finance PVs are up 22%; AOL Body UVs are up more than 25%
and PVs up more than 50%.
AOL (TWX): Randy Falco's Year-End Love Note to AOLers
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