One knowledgeable source tells TechCrunch that the decision has been made internally at Time Warner to try to spin off Platform A through an IPO sometime early next year. (AOL declines to comment). A lot needs to happen before that plan is put into action, but the writing is on the wall. Web advertising is still hot. It's just not so hot on the AOL portal itself anymore. (In fact, the most recent AOL ad shortfall cost AOL Media Networks president Mike Kelly his job ).