Ned Brody, former sales executive at AOL, resigned recently. Apparently, Yahoo! wants to make the most of this situation and has reportedly made an offer to Brody, to become it’s head of sales in North America. And this was done despite the fact that Brody is under a non-compete order for about 12 months.
According to speculations, Yahoo! has offered him quite a generous salary and is willing to pay him for these 12 months as well, while he is under the non-compete order, similar to a paid vacation. These terms would definitely make it hard for Brody to resist the offer. Also, if he chooses to accept Yahoo!’s offer, he’ll have a very important position in the company.
Rumour has it that AOL has warned Yahoo! that it might just take legal action against it for the offer it made to Brody, but it has chosen not to fight for him. Perhaps the offer made by Yahoo is too great to match? According to TechCrunch, which is owned by AOL, an internal memo from Tim Armstrong (CEO, AOL) has confirmed that Brody “resigned to pursue other opportunities.” Armstrong will be running things in Brody’s former department temporarily, till they find a permanent replacement.
AOL has also hired PepsiCo PR Executive Peter Land as it’s head of communications. Land was the #2 Communications Executive at PepsiCo, and will be in-charge of external and internal communication at AOL.