New AOL CEO Armstrong Is from Google, But He's No Gearhead ... And That's Good

In hiring Google’s Tim Armstrong as its new CEO, AOL has its most credible leadership since Steve Case ran the company. (Back when Steve Case had credibility, that is.)  And it couldn’t come at a more important time for AOL, whose also-ran status in the online media wars is becoming, well, embedded. Armstrong, who, as Google’s president of the Americas, helped engineer the most successful online ad operation in the medium’s history, is one of only a handful of people I can think of that can make people believe in the future of AOL. For much of the last decade, AOL management has been in various stages of upheaval, churning out almost as many new business models as iTunes does upgrades. AOL version 9.0.3 anyone?

Not that stability is immediately within AOL’s grasp, even with Armstrong at the helm. In fact, there’s plenty of speculation that it will be spun off from Time Warner, coming full circle from the time when it went and bought TW about a decade ago, and, presumptuously, put its name first on the corporate letterhead. However, Armstrong, as steeped in Google as he is after spending nearly a decade there, is no gearhead, and that’s one reason he’s the right guy for AOL. When I picture him, I see a New York-based ad sales executive who, more often than not is wearing a suit and could be mistaken for a magazine publisher; his obvious ability to be a digital wonk is well hidden. He will bring an astonishing amount of online advertising savvy to AOL in a package that media execs, agencies, and advertisers can stomach. Having known Armstrong for most of his Google tenure, and not really wanting to see AOL fail, I’m excited for them both.