Time Warner Exec Named AOL CFO

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AOL on Thursday named one of its former financial directors, Arthur Minson, as the company's new EVP and chief financial officer.

Minson joins AOL directly from Time Warner Cable, where, as EVP and deputy CFO, he helped manage that company's separation from Time Warner.

Minson is replacing Nisha Kumar, who, under the direction of new CEO Tim Armstrong, left the company in April. As part of a large management shakeup, Kumar left alongside Greg Coleman, head of AOL's Platform A division.

In July, AOL outlined a new five-point strategy for the soon-to-be-independent company. As outlined internally and to members of the press, it includes the continued expansion of vertical content, local and online mapping services, its third-party ad network, communication tools, and early-stage investment through a newly formed AOL Ventures arm.

"AOL has an incredible collection of assets, and Tim has set the company on the right strategic course," Minson said of the refocused AOL.

Based in New York, Minson will be expected to oversee the company's financial functions including accounting, financial planning and analysis, tax, treasury, human resources, mergers and acquisitions, and internal audit.

Likewise, at Time Warner Cable, Minson oversaw the company's accounting, financial planning and analysis, operations finance, corporate services, and internal audit functions while working closely with TWC's treasury and investor relations departments.

Prior to his role at Time Warner Cable, Minson led AOL's corporate finance and development activities, where he was responsible for financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions and corporate financial administration.

In late May, Time Warner's board of directors authorized plans to spin off AOL as an independent, publicly traded company by the end of the year.

The new AOL will exist less as a Web portal, and more as a fragmented network of niche content sites. This MediaGlow network, so-called, presently encompasses over 70 niche content sites -- with many more on the way, according to Jeff Levick, who was recently appointed president of AOL Advertising.

Levick was brought on mid-April by his former Google colleague, Tim Armstrong.

In the second quarter, ad sales at AOL fell 21%, the company recently reported. AOL's total revenue fell 24% to $804 million in the quarter -- actually showing an accelerated decline from the first quarter when ad sales dropped 20% to $109 million.

AOL drew 107 million average monthly domestic unique visitors and 51 billion domestic page views, according to comScore, which translates into 159 average monthly domestic page views per unique visitor.

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