AOL’s Independence Day; Armstrong: ‘Today Marks A Rebirth’

Aol Goldfish

Fresh from last night’s big celebration of its spinoff from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), AOL’s first official act of independence was a conference call with CEO Tim Armstrong and the executive team at the NYSE. Armstrong began the call with a brief overview of AOL’s 25-year history, saying that “today marks a rebirth.” He then began taking questions, the first one dealing with AOL’s stock, which was down 2.20 percent to $23.15 a share around the time of the call. Was he disappointed? Armstrong: “I haven’t looked because we’ve been so busy. And that’s probably the best way to think about my perception of the stock in the future. The stock price tends to be a reflection the work and the products and services we put out in the world… The stock may go up and down today, but the company continues to progress and get stronger. I’m much more focused concentrating on getting back to work.”

Armstrong also addressed the access business, which is a source of considerable traffic for AOL (NYSE: AOL). He said the dial-up service, which is how AOL began a quarter century ago, is relatively small versus the company’s total traffic. Citing comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) number, Armstrong said AOL draw 100 million uniques, while the access business brings in 5 million, with half that number being paid subscribers.

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