city new york u.s. area served california connecticut delaware washington dc florida georgia illinois maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota missouri new hampshire new jersey new york ohio pennsylvania rhode island virginia washington wisconsin key people charles c. hale ceo services online news and opinion owner hale global website www.patch.com alexa rank 114 u.s. 1 type of site news launched december 2007 current status active patch.com is an independent u.s. local news and information platform primarily owned by hale global . 2 as of may 2014 patch operated some 906 local and hyperlocal news websites in 23 u.s. states . 3 4 5 patch media corporation is the operator of the service . 6 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 criticism 4 references 5 external links history edit patch was founded by tim armstrong warren webster and jon brod in 2007 after armstrong said he found a dearth of online information on his hometown of riverside connecticut . 7 the company was then acquired by aol in 2009 shortly after armstrong became aol s ceo . armstrong told aol staffers that he recused himself from negotiations to acquire the company and did not directly profit from his seed investment . he instead asked that his seed money be returned to him in the form of aol stock when it split from time warner . 8 9 the acquisition occurred on june 11 2009 . 10 11 aol paid an estimated 7 million in cash for the news platform as part of its effort to reinvent itself as a content provider beyond its legacy dial up internet business . aol which split from time warner in late 2009 announced in 2010 it would be investing 50 million or more into the startup of the patch.com network . 12 as part of the acquisition brod became president of aol ventures local & mapping and warren webster became president of patch . 13 on august 9 2013 aol announced it would be laying off staff at all levels . 14 on an all staff conference call aol ceo tim armstrong announced that the number of staffed patch sites will be reduced from 900 to 600 . 15 creative director abel lenz was also publicly fired by tim armstrong at that time . 16 on january 15 2014 aol spun off patch and sold majority ownership to hale global . 2 in may 2014 the company announced the first profitable quarter in its history . 17 operations edit patch sites contain news and human interest stories reported locally . in 2010 the company expected to be the largest hirer of full time journalists in the united states . 18 each site contains a mixture of local and national advertising . criticism edit patch media has come under scrutiny from individuals and the media . articles in the los angeles times 19 business insider 20 21 forbes 22 and online bloggers 23 24 25 point out apparent flaws in its business model . according to several sources that were published from 2010 to 2012 some of which quoted former employees working conditions within the organization deteriorated and the company entered a period of consolidation . 26 27 28 the sites are also facing increased competition from independent blogs . 29 tim armstrong told the columbia journalism review in march 2012 that he still believed in the company . 30 when editor in chief brian farnham resigned in april 2012 farnham said i ve never worked for a company that has been as scrutinized criticized and coal raked as this one ... you d think we were creating toxic waste instead of you know free useful information . 31 references edit patch.com site info . alexa.com . retrieved may 4 2016 . a b kaufman leslie january 15 2014 . aol finds a partner to run its troubled patch division . new york times . keith tamara 17 august 2010 . aol aims high with hyperlocal journalism project . npr.com . retrieved 17 august 2010 . hardy quentin 17 august 2010 . aol s plan to own your neighborhood . forbes.com . retrieved 17 august 2010 . chandler michele 9 december 2010 . local news becomes web s new boom . netnewscheck . retrieved 27 december 2010 . our terms of use . patch.com . retrieved september 3 2012 . cain miller claire ; stone brad april 12 2009 . hyperlocal web sites deliver news without newspapers . the new york times . schonfeld erick june 11 2009 . aol buys local startups going and patch and ceo tim armstrong brings an investment in house . techcrunch . about us . patch . retrieved 2014 01 17 . savarese chris june 11 2009 . aol acquires two local services patch and going . aol.com . retrieved february 11 2010 . mccarthy caroline june 11 2009 . aol thinks local acquires patch and going . cnet.com . retrieved february 11 2010 . aol s patch plans 500 local sites by end of 2010 . associated press . august 16 2010 . jon brod . aol.com . may 12 2010 . archived from the original on june 1 2010 . retrieved february 11 2010 . aol to impact hundreds of patch employees friday in a bid for hyper local profits . retrieved 2013 08 09 . nicholas carlson provided by 2013 08 09 . aol ceo tim armstrong fired patch s creative director in front of 1 000 coworkers aol . sfgate . retrieved 2014 01 17 . opinion aol boss blew it in public firing . cnn.com . 13 august 2013 . retrieved 2014 01 17 . kaufman leslie may 18 2014 . patch sites turn corner after sale and big cuts . the new york times . retrieved may 18 2014 . clabaugh jeff august 17 2010 . aol is hiring hundreds of journalists . san jose business journal . retrieved august 17 2010 . rainey james 24 april 2010 . on the media trying to patch into the hyper local news market the aol franchise comes to manhattan beach . can it succeed . los angeles times . carlson nicholas 23 september 2011 . a bridge too far aol requires patch editors to drum up ad sales leads . business insider . carlson nicholas 23 february 2012 . leaked documents reveal exactly how much ads cost on patch . business insider . bercovici jeff 6 october 2011 . is aol trimming its patch year end goal now in doubt . forbes . retrieved 13 april 2012 . gaffin adam 16 april 2010 . thank god needham is a three site town . universal hub . safran steve may 21 2010 . is the patch revenue model sustainable . lost remote . hirschman david 19 april 2011 . baristanet s debra galant how patch is like wal mart interview . street fight inside the business of hyperlocal . kennedy dan august 5 2010 . hard times working the patch . media nation . del rey jason 9 december 2011 . aol s patch gets a little less hyper local consolidates sites in new jersey california . ad age . roach sean march april 2012 . the constant gardener my two years tending aol s hyperlocal experiment . columbia journalism review . kennedy dan may 13 2011 . indies fight back against patch . media nation . tim armstrong still believes the aol ceo tells why he s still betting on patch . columbia journalism review . march april 2012 . faircloth kelly . aol s patch editor in chief leaves does not go scorched earth . shakeups . betabeat . retrieved 13 april 2012 . external links edit official website patch . encyclo an encyclopedia of the future of news . nieman foundation for journalism at harvard university . v t e aol digital media aol.com autoblog cambio engadget go90 makers moviefone on style me pretty techcrunch the huffington post advertising advertising platforms advertising.com be on convertro millennial media one by aol relegence verizon digital media services communication alto mail mail reader search dmoz mapquest search software pc aim desktop shield browser mobile kanvas pip sage vivv discontinued or sold explorer fanhouse gamedaily hometown joystiq openride patch media propeller seed spinner corporate verizon communications acquisitions criticism history retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title patch media & oldid 739160453 categories internet properties established in 2007hyperlocal in the united statesaolcalifornia mediaconnecticut mediamedia in washington d.c.florida mediageorgia u.s. state mediaillinois mediaiowa mediamaryland mediamassachusetts mediamichigan mediaminnesota mediamissouri medianew hampshire medianew jersey medianew york medianorth carolina mediapennsylvania mediarhode island mediasouth carolina mediavirginia mediawashington state mediawisconsin media navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 september 2016 at 03 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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