malcolm-bird

Bird flies AOL coop

Chris Mohney · 02/23/07 12:00PM

SVP Malcolm Bird, lord of rugrats and surly teens, is bailing from AOL after his division's budget was reportedly slashed and plans to bring in outside finance partners were dropped. One tipster claims Bird had "millions in financial backing, a mangement team and a plan," before his schemes were scuttled by the higher-ups. This is particularly weird in terms of AOL spinning the changes as a recommitment to kid-teen content, when the cuts seem to telegraph the opposite. As Paidcontent notes, this kind of spin control may save corporate face, but it does nothing to motivate execs like Bird to stick around and keep holding the (empty) bag.