AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong said in a staff memo on Tuesday that he made a mistake in publicly firing an employee last Friday in front of a thousand workers.
A recording had been leaked to the media in which Armstrong is heard firing Abel Lenz, a creative director at AOL’s Patch unit, after he tells Lenz to put down his camera. Lenz remains fired, the company said.
“I am accountable for the way I handled the situation, and at a human level it was unfair to Abel,” Armstrong said in a memo to employees obtained by Reuters.
He added that he apologised directly to Lenz as well.
Armstrong also explained what drove him over the edge at the meeting, saying Abel had previously been told not to record confidential meetings.
“He repeated that behaviour on Friday, which drove my actions,” Armstrong said.