Dave Morgan, the founder of online advertising firms RealMedia (which later became 24/7RealMedia and sold to WPP for $649 million) and Tacoda, is leaving AOL (NYSE: TWX) exactly three months after being appointed EVP-Global Advertising Strategy, according to an internal memo we obtained. The official announcement will come later today. Morgan came to AOL after he sold his behavioral advertising company Tacoda to it in September, for about $275 million.
The memo, sent by Ron Grant, COO of AOL, outlines a rather cordial parting of ways, and when I reached Morgan last evening by phone, he confirmed his departure, and echoed the thoughts. From the text of the memo:
“Dave has worked side by side with Curt to make sure the integration of Tacoda—his baby—went smoothly...Dave helped us define and implement our vision for Platform-A. We’ve benefited greatly from his enthusiasm...and we will continue to do so as we bring Platform-A to market this year. In fact, Dave will be working with me to identify start-up opportunities that are strategic to AOL and Platform-A.. Dave, though, is an entrepreneur at heart, and so it didn’t really surprise me that he wanted to get back in the start-up game again and we’ll look forward to working with him in the future.”
Morgan told me he is looking at a couple of ideas in the online advertising field, and will possibly even look at AOL funding some part of it, if it makes sense. But a departure three months after his new appointment at AOL will raise more than a few eyebrows, especially as the big Internet media companies are in turmoil and tussle for consolidation. This is the second major departure from AOL’s ad team announced in the last week: Discovery just hired Kathleen Kayse as EVP of digital media sales..she also came from Platform-A where she was EVP of marketing solutions and led ad sales and partnerships.
AOL will not fill the role created for Morgan. Curt Viebranz is currently the president of Platform-A.
These moves come after parent Time Warner announced its intention last week to split AOL into an access business and an audience/advertising business. There is rampant speculation that all of this means AOL will sell off the audience business, or get in bed with Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in a bigger way, especially if the MSFT-YHOO deal ever happens.
David adds: I met with Morgan two weeks ago to discuss his views on the state of the online ad industry in general and AOL’s ability to continue its string of investments and acquisitions amid widespread recessionary fears. Not giving any hint of his plans to leave his current post, he said companies like AOL will have to be more aggressive about looking outside the U.S. to extend its ad network. “If you believe in the long-term market opportunity, the down markets are when you want to make your strongest moves.” Guess he is making his…
