Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/11/17/brad_garlinghouse_leaves_aol/

AOL AIM boss legs it from yet another web biz

Peanut! butter! man! joined! from! Yahoo!

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in On-Prem, 17th November 2011 16:42 GMT

Brad Garlinghouse - who oversees AOL Mail, AIM and Mobile - is reportedly leaving the company after joining just two years ago.

According to GigaOM, the AOL applications and commerce president has quit the firm.

It's unclear at this stage what his reasons are, but the outfit is going through a painful identity crisis as it attempts to recast itself as a media publisher.

In February AOL chief Tim Armstrong confirmed a $315m buyout of the Huffington Post. Late last year, the company purchased TechCrunch.

Garlinghouse previously worked at Yahoo! for more than half a decade, and penned the now infamous leaked Peanut Butter Manifesto in 2006.

He grumbled at the time that the company was spreading itself too thinly – offering too many services and lacking focus.

Perhaps he discovered the same problem during his tenure at AOL, or else Garlinghouse is skilled in the ninja death pinch. ®