AOL Announces Closing of Almost Half of 'Patch' Sites

August 9, 2013 | AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced earlier today that it is closing or finding partners for 400 of its 900 sites Patch ...

August 9, 2013 |

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced earlier today that it is closing or finding partners for 400 of its 900 sites Patch sites, that company's hyper-local news sites.

According the the Wall Street Journal, "the changes will radically curtail the scope of the nation's most ambitious experiment in online local news. Patch's sites deliver neighborhood-specific content, including school and government news and information on restaurants, movies and real estate."

Business Insider reported that "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."

No information on which Patch sites will shuttered has been disclosed. A Patch site for Elk Grove was launched approximately two and 1/2 years ago. 

Following the announced AOL shares traded up almost two percent on the jobs cut announcement.  

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2 comments

Anonymous said...

That is bad news. At one time Patch was setting the news standard in Elk Grove.

Michael said...

Go to the Patch site from Saturday, August 10.
You can read a story about the move by Apple to probably putting in a data center.
Apple has a 69 KV electrical substation, about what would allegedly run the city of Elk Grove (as quoted from the Sacramento Business Journal).

http://elkgrove.patch.com/groups/business-news/p/apple-facility-has-access-to-enough-electricity-to-power-a-city-the-size-of-elk-grove?yPos=1789

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