Google's Tim Armstrong named CEO of AOL

Tim Armstrong, SVP of Google, has been named chairman and CEO of AOL. Randy Falco, who currently holds the title, as well as AOL's COO Ron Grant, will leave the company after a transition period. The announcement was made by chairman and CEO of AOL's parent company Time Warner Inc., Jeff Bewkes.

Armstrong will start at AOL on April 7.

Armstrong has been in conversations with AOL for the past several weeks, according to a spokesperson for Time Warner. In terms of finding a replacement COO, that will be Armstrong's decision when he takes office, the spokesperson said.  

"Since arriving at Google eight and a half years ago, Tim Armstrong has been a critical force in Google's advertiser-facing operations,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a statement sent to DMNews by a Google spokesperson. “We're very sad to see him go, but would like to take this opportunity to wish Tim every success and good fortune in this new role at AOL--one of Google's longest standing partners. He's one of the most creative, fun, and respected leaders in the ad industry, and we have all loved working with him at Google. We'll announce an internal candidate as Tim's successor in the coming weeks, and are delighted Tim will remain with Google for the next month to help oversee this transition."

At Google, Armstrong served as president of the Americas Operations, where his team managed relationships between publishers and major brand advertisers. Armstrong joined Google in 2000.

“AOL has a wide-ranging set of assets and audience,” Armstrong said in a statement. “The company is well positioned to enhance those assets into a larger share of the Internet audience and advertiser communities. AOL and Google have been partners for years, and I look forward to collaborating with Jeff Bewkes and his team as we explore the right structure and future for AOL.”

AOL is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.