Executive Exits

• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 31, 2007

Third Screen Media founder and CEO Tom Burgess isn't sticking around to see how AOL's acquisition of the company turns out. In an e-mail message sent out last month, Burgess explained that he planned to leave the mobile ad platform by mid-October and already has "new projects" underway. (He declined to discuss the nature of the projects in a follow-up message.)

Burgess' departure doesn't come as a huge surprise, since entrepreneurs often exit the companies they started following acquisitions by larger entities. The company is now part of the newly created grouping of AOL advertising businesses called "Platform A," which also includes Advertising.com, Tacoda, Lightningcast and AdTech. Not all heads of AOL's acquired companies have cashed out, however.

Former Tacoda CEO Curtis G. Viebranz will lead the new ad organization within AOL.

MW