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An AOL Employee Was Publicly Fired During a Conference Call

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL Inc., speaks at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers 2013 Spring Conference in Washington, D.C. — Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL Inc., speaks at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers 2013 Spring Conference in Washington, D.C.Photograph by Pete Marovich/Bloomberg

By

Venessa Wong

August 9, 2013, 9:16 PM UTC

Update Aug. 13, 6:30 p.m.: Updated with details about Tim Armstrong’s apology.

Just a week after editorial staffers at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer were laid off over the phone, one unfortunate employee of AOL’s local news operation, Patch.com, suffered an even more undignified termination: He was reportedly fired by Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong during a conference call this morning. That means about a thousand people were listening in when the boom came down. So much for being discreet. In a cruel twist, the subject of the call was the company’s forthcoming layoffs.