eCommerce Times: You've Got Mail, But Too Few Ads

AOL, once the advertising giant on the internet, has fallen out of the top three in terms of ad sales. Accounting scandals, dot-com bubble bursting and subscription-oriented business models aside, much of the problem stemmed from a highly dysfunctional sales staff. While a recent reorganization may have reset the conditions for growth, many media buyers - especially those from small and mid-size firms - trying to send money to AOL in 2002 were turned away when sales representatives feared selling online ads could tar them as online reps at a time of layoffs and great internal uncertainty and cynicism.