AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Apologizes For Public Firing

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong apologized to Patch employees on Tuesday, after a recording of him spontaneously firing Patch Creative Director Abel Lenz in the midst of an all-company conference call went viral over the weekend.

“We talk a lot about accountability and I am accountable for the way I handled the situation, and at a human level it was unfair to Abel,” Armstrong wrote in a memo to Patch employees. “I’ve communicated to him directly and apologized for the way the matter was handled at the meeting.”

Armstrong indicated that his displeasure over the recording of meetings had been a point of contention with Lenz before.

“As you know, I am a firm believer in open meetings, open Q&A, and this level of transparency requires trust across AOL,” Armstrong wrote. “Internal meetings of a confidential nature should not be filmed or recorded so that our employees can feel free to discuss all topics openly. Abel had been told previously not to record a confidential meeting, and he repeated that behavior on Friday, which drove my actions.”

Listen to the firing below, via Romenesko:

[h/t CNNMoney]

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Image via Medacity

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