AOL chief exec issues the firing heard ’round the world

Tim Armstrong dismissed Patch Creative Director Abel Lenz on the spot for taking a picture during a conference call while 1,000 employees listened in. After a leak, the whole Internet heard it.

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Here’s how it went down: While Armstrong was talking about how little he cared if anyone leaked information about the changes coming to Patch, he quickly stopped and said, “Abel, put that camera down right now! Abel, you’re fired. Out!” After a brief pause, Armstrong launches right back in to what he was saying.

The impromptu firing is public knowledge because someone leaked audio of the incident to Jim Romenesko’s blog and Romenesko posted it to SoundCloud:

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