AOL Ventures: The Place for "Manifest Destiny"
New AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong just finished speaking here at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference, and gave a bit more color on the reinvigorated "AOL Ventures" initiative. Sounds like AOL Ventures will basically be a bifurcated program. On the one hand, it will be used like a traditional corporate VC arm, investing in companies that AOL believes could be of eventual strategic value. Or, as Armstrong puts it: "AOL Ventures is not as much a strategy as a membrane around the company to bring in innovation." Of greater interest, AOL Ventures also will be where the company puts past strategic acquisitions that have not yet worked out. Kind of a way station of sorts, with companies given a P&L and then left to chase their
23 July 2009•1 min read
