AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Talks AOL Spinoff And More With Blodget

Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL (AOL), recently sat down with Business Insider’s Henry Blodget for a little chat and self-congratulations. I think he must have had his arm checked out post-interview after patting himself on the back so much for his performance in unraveling one of the ‘worst mergers in history’.

To be fair, Mr. Armstrong certainly deserves a lot of credit. Putting it mildly, AOL was not a popular name post-spin and most people astutely noted the company’s declining revenue base and questionable future prospects given the business strategy shift. After a brief climb, the stock was summarily pummeled and earnings report after earnings report came in ugly. Things change though and 2012 has been quite the year for the company. The stock is up over 100% YTD and that doesn’t include the $1.3b in value that was returned to shareholders.

In addition to talking about the spinoff, Mr. Armstrong shares his thoughts on some other topics including the differences between Silicon Valley and the ‘East Coast’ and what he thinks is the most important aspect of a company (I’ll ruin it – it’s the people – and I agree).

Worth checking out.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned.