AOL formed Platform-A in 2008 - during an 18-month advertising acquisition binge including Tacoda, Quigo, Buy.at, Advertising.com, AdTech and Third Screen Media - to offer full-service online ad services to its own properties and third parties. But the unit’s leadership has changed plenty after new CEO Tim Armstong’s AOL-wide review, renaming it AOL Advertising.

The changes are more than just cosmetic - now Armstrong’s AOL, through the former Mediaglow division (now AOL Media) is placing emphasis on being a niche web content publisher and, some might say, downplaying its ad proposition.

Earlier this month, Armstrong said AOL Advertising is preparing a new ad platform. It’s likely any remaining parts of AOL Advertising will want to focus on selling ads on AOL’s own burgeoning array of niche sites - but perhaps it’s curious to scrap an affiliate marketing unit when ecommerce sales, unlike the advertising economy, are still proving healthy.

Reuters: “Buy.at has annual sales of more than 40 million euros and about 70 employees.”

Update: Pieces of AOL emailed statement…

“Since last year, AOL has been moving through a process that started with strategy, then focused on structure, and has more recently been centred on aligning our costs with the company’s strategy and structure.

“Since July of last year, AOL has been focused on executing its strategic initiatives. As part of that execution plan, we are reviewing the list of AOL assets as they relate to the core strategy.

“Buy.at is a company that has been successful in the marketing services space and will benefit from being owned by a group that is operating in the marketing services industry. Our goal going into this process was to find a viable option for the Buy.at business and employees to thrive and we believe the partnership offered by Axel Springer AG and PubliGroupe clearly meets that goal.”

Update 2: Spokesperson says: “We did not take this decision lightly. We want Buy.at to be a bigger and bigger success in the marketing services industry and that is not our core focus area going forward.” Says AOL is not downplaying its advertising operations, just refocusing on premium digital ads.