AOL appoints former Yahoo! sales head Gregory Coleman to Platform-A

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 04-Feb-09, 09:00

LONDON - AOL has appointed Gregory Coleman, Yahoo!'s former executive vice-president of global sales, to replace Lynda Clarizio as president of its online advertising division Platform-A.

Coleman left Yahoo! a year ago after a major reorganisation that changed his role.

He is the third executive in a little more than a year to head up Platform-A, which sells ads across AOL and thousands of other sites.

Randy Falco, the AOL chief executive, wrote in an internal memo to staff announcing the appointment: "No doubt Greg is joining Platform-A at a difficult time. The deepening economic recession is affecting every corner of the economy, including our own."

The Time Warner-owned company has experienced a worse than expected downturn in ad revenues, particularly in the financial, automotive and retail sectors.

AOL posted a 6% decline in ad revenue for the third quarter, its worst performance of the year.

Coleman is considered to be a veteran ad sales executive, and is credited with igniting Yahoo!'s advertising business several years ago.

Before his seven-year stint at Yahoo!, Coleman was senior vice president of Reader's Digest Association and president of US Magazine Publishing.