AOL to lay off up to 1,200 workers to reach target

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By RACHEL METZ

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The struggling Internet company AOL was laying off up to 1,200 workers this week because it didn't get enough volunteers to accept buyouts.

AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said Monday that only 1,100 had volunteered to leave. That means AOL would need to shed up to 1,200 positions to reach its previously announced reduction target of up to 2,300, or about a third of its work force.

The cuts, which were on top of thousands of positions shed in recent years, came as AOL separated from Time Warner Inc. last month. AOL acquired Time Warner at the height of the dot-com boom in 2001, but the combination proved disastrous, prompting Time Warner to spin AOL off as a separate company.

In recent years, the company formerly known as America Online has been trying to reinvent itself as a content and advertising company as the legacy dial-up Internet access business that made the company famous steadily declined. But AOL has struggled in that transformation as its advertising revenue has failed to offset the drop in revenue from the dial-up business.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100111/D9D5NBT00.html

[Ian David]

1. You've Got Pinkslip! n/t

[Ian David]

2. And to top it all off, AOL killed CompuServe years ago. n/t

[YOY]

3. Well...to play devil's advocate I don't really know anyone who still uses AOL.

n.t.

[RoyGBiv]

4. AOL has been dying for ages ...

Their business model worked only during a relatively short, specific period of time, and they steadfastly refuse to do anything to change it significantly.

They committed infrastructure to major markets only at the very same time everyone in the business knew cable modems were coming. It was stupid, and no amount of "reinvention" at this late stage is going to help significantly in the near future.

I feel sorry for the employees, but given how many of them I saw wheeled away in ambulances from stress induced heart attacks and the like (at least one a week; they had a call center across the street from my office), many of them may be better off in the long run.

[SpiralHawk]

5. AOL is the Republicon-style model of the Internet

Control freaks, and thus ultimately FAIL Freaks.

[robo50]

6. Best thing for AOL: surrender to bankruptcy and take a bailout

Worked for the useless banks!

Seriously, AOL is about the worst piece of email software crap one can have on one's computer.

[TheEuclideanOne]

7. Yeah, FU AOL!!!!!

They could not die soon enough. Does anybody remember how the government had to step in because they refused to let people cancel their accounts? They probably made 50% of their revenue by people that signed up and forgot about them and the monthly charges. Good riddance, AOL!!!! Don't let the door to the chat room hit you on the way out!

[CubFan7125]

8. Cancellation

Does anyone remember the audio of the guy trying to cancel his AOL? Funny, funny stuff.

[pinniped]

9. The mighty alt.aol-sucks newsgroup finally brought them down.

These clowns have littered the planet with billions of their stupid software CDs.

DIdn't these crooks charge people for usage by the hour or kb?

Screw them.