AOL president Bob Lord has announced his plans to leave the company next year, despite speculation by many that he was in line to become chief executive.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Lord admitted he wanted to run a publicly listed company.

“That’s my sweet spot,” Lord said. “That’s what I really want to do. I haven’t gone out in the market and looked yet. Right now, I’m committed to making sure things are tied up at AOL.”

Current AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong has admitted he had been training Lord to take over the company reins. However, following AOL’s take over by Verizon Wireless for $4.4bn earlier in the year, the company is likely to become a unit within a larger telecoms venture, blocking Lord’s aspirations of running a public company.

Lord joined AOL in July 2013 with a focus on ad tech and programmatic media buying, characterised by the launch of One by AOL.

Lord’s departure date is not fixed, but it has been speculated that he won’t leave before the end of the year, with no successor as yet named.