Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL, fired Patch.com creative director Abel Lenz, in front of hundreds of coworkers, according to reports on Friday.
Business Insider reported that Armstrong held a conference call about the firing.
“Abel, put that camera down. You’re fired. Out,” he said, according to Betabeat.com.
Armstrong then resumed speaking after a few seconds of silence, saying that leaks to the media make Patch.com, owned by AOL, seem like “loser-ville ... that’s why Abel was fired.”
“We can’t have people that are in the locker room giving the game plan away,” he continued.
AOL recently announced that Patch.com--a hyper-local type of media entity--would be reducing its staff size from 900 workers to 600. Around 400 Patch sites will be shut down.
According to Techcrunch, Armstrong told employees that “AOL is going to be running the show”at Patch.
However, some people on the conference call weren’t impressed with him firing another employee in front of numerous coworkers.
A source who listened into the call told Techcrunch that the firing was “shameful and disgusting” behavior.
