Time Warner's (TWX) AOL laid off more than 450 employees at is corporate headquarters Wednesday in keeping with the plans announced earlier this year to cut costs and change the company's business strategy, accordking to this WashingtonPost.com article.
The layoff is less than originally anticipated when in August AOL executives announced they would cut 1,000 local jobs of the 5,000 to be cut worldwide. To date fewer than 600 positions have been eliminated in Northern Virginia.
Layoffs aren't a new thing at AOL. In 2004, AOL let 750 employees go just before the holidays. The company also laid off 700 people in fall 2005. The spirit of the Holidays is noticeably absent at AOL, although a sense of humor still reigns with employees passing around a link to photo Web site Flickr showing a man wearing a series of T-shirts with this banner, "AOL, The Third Annual Christmas Layoff 2007."
AOL is undergoing a huge restructuring and transformation of its original business plan. They now offer their services free through their Web site and hope to create revenue from advertising instead of subscriptions.
Changes in management are reflected in last month's appointment of a new chief executive, Randy Falco, and longtime AOL vice president Ted Leonsis' departure at the end of this year.
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