AOL slashes 2,500 jobs
By Reuters
Posted on 19 Nov 2009 at 16:02
AOL plans to cut 2,500 jobs, as the former web giant moves to trim costs ahead of its spin-off from Time Warner.
The cuts represent around a third of AOL's total workforce, and the company says they'll help trim $300 million in annual costs.
The struggling web pioneer, which is now focused primarily on advertising-supported content, will start the cuts with a volunteer buyout program beginning on 4 December. It will then move to involuntary layoffs on 11 December if enough workers don't participate.
AOL claims the layoffs will result in restructuring charges of up to $200 million through the first half of 2010.
AOL is worth $160 billion less than when it merged with Time Warner in 2000
Time Warner has slated 9 December as the date for the spin off, bringing to an end one of the most disastrous corporate mergers in history.
When AOL's plan to merge with Time Warner was announced in January 2000, the internet company was valued at $163 billion. The combination was meant to herald the future of content distribution via the internet, but the promised benefits were never achieved.
Today AOL is valued at around $3 billion.
Chief executive Tim Armstrong told employees of the layoff plan via video and email, and said that he was going to forgo his own bonus for 2009.
The layoffs will start in the US, where AOL employs about 4,500 people, and will extend to the company's global operations.
From around the web
They could of been great
I look back on AOL and can only conclude that their demise is their own fault due to very bad business decisions which may of seemed very good for the short term but completly ruined their reputation
By DaChimp on 19 Nov 2009 
I can Remember ...
I can remember to being one of the first UK subscribers when people in the US thought I was dialling into their country. I've watched AOL attempt to 'control' their subscribers over the years convincing them that AOL was the best. They failed! Then I had the sad experience of speaking to their (not free) technical services where the man told me that their software was fine but the (brand new) Dell it was being run on was obviously at fault. He was so rude and adamant I decided that AOL was obviously hopeless.
Michael
By photomanlondon on 19 Nov 2009
A reminder...
That the company mentioned here (AOL Inc.)is not the company who operate the AOL 'brand' in the UK - AOL UK is a wholly owned part of Car Phone Warehouse, as are Talk Talk and Tiscali. In those companies there have been no redundancies nor, as far as I'm aware, no talk of any redundancies. Are they not now the largest BB provider in the UK?
By Minou on 20 Nov 2009
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