AfterDawn: Tech news

AOL laying off 20 percent of workforce

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Mar 2011 1:59 User comments (14)

AOL laying off 20 percent of workforce AOL is prepared to cut up to 20 percent of its global workforce, this week, with as many as 900 people losing there jobs.
The company will cut 400 jobs in India and 200 in the U.S., while outsourcing another 300 to other companies.

At its peak during the tech bubble, AOL had 20,000 employees. After this week, the company will have just over 4000.

Says CEO Tim Armstrong (via Reuters):

We want to go from taking arrows to catching arrows. Today is a difficult one for our company.

AOL will turn around.


AOL just completed its massive $315 million acquisition of The Huffington Post news site.

Tags: AOL layoffs
Previous Next  

14 user comments

110.3.2011 14:37
lissenup2
Inactive

AOL just close already!!!!!!

Jackass company is knowingly ripping people off by NOT informing those that are paying for an email address that they don't need to pay anymore. That is without any integrity and honor and AOL is a loser company.

I can't believe they even have 900 people to actually lay off and shame on them for outsourcing to India.

210.3.2011 17:43

Originally posted by lissenup2:
AOL just close already!!!!!!

Jackass company is knowingly ripping people off by NOT informing those that are paying for an email address that they don't need to pay anymore. That is without any integrity and honor and AOL is a loser company.

I can't believe they even have 900 people to actually lay off and shame on them for outsourcing to India.
Any moron who pays for a generic email address deserves to be ripped off.

310.3.2011 18:09

Originally posted by gallagher:
Originally posted by lissenup2:
AOL just close already!!!!!!

Jackass company is knowingly ripping people off by NOT informing those that are paying for an email address that they don't need to pay anymore. That is without any integrity and honor and AOL is a loser company.

I can't believe they even have 900 people to actually lay off and shame on them for outsourcing to India.
Any moron who pays for a generic email address deserves to be ripped off.
unless its a private email account. i wouldn't really know, last time i used aol was back in 94 and that was with Windows 3.11.

when i got my first P3 machine in 97 i switched to ISDN and to DSL in 2000
Both of them Used Earthlink as the ISP.

how they digital years fly, hopefully i can get a pair of hud glasses before i die.

410.3.2011 20:19

AOL will be yesterday's news if they don't adapt to the changing times....

AOL was almost worth something back in the days of dial-up and before Rupert Murdoch got his grubby paws on it.

Has anyone noticed that everything Rupert Murdoch touches turns to crap??? Almost like a King Midas in reverse (No pun intended).

510.3.2011 21:25

What exactly does AOL offer to a potential customer, anyway? Seriously,what is the product they sell these days? Is dial-up internet their main source of income still? I'm somewhat surprised they are even in business still, if that is the case. My first impression is that they prey off the ignorant, computer illiterate masses. Is that truly the case?

610.3.2011 21:30
lissenup2
Inactive

Originally posted by ivymike:
AOL will be yesterday's news if they don't adapt to the changing times....

AOL was almost worth something back in the days of dial-up and before Rupert Murdoch got his grubby paws on it.

Has anyone noticed that everything Rupert Murdoch touches turns to crap??? Almost like a King Midas in reverse (No pun intended).

I'm not familiar with anything he's a part of except Fox I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) and Fox is a goldmine and I love it. Based on Fox, I'd say he's a genius.

711.3.2011 02:38

Originally posted by DarthMopar:
What exactly does AOL offer to a potential customer, anyway? Seriously,what is the product they sell these days? Is dial-up internet their main source of income still? I'm somewhat surprised they are even in business still, if that is the case. My first impression is that they prey off the ignorant, computer illiterate masses. Is that truly the case?
I believe AOL offers high speed Internet services now. Havent checked in awhile. Now I havent used AOL since the dial up days..but from what I can see here the GUI has remained largely the same. To the tech buffs, it is useless. However, if grandma and grandpa decide they want to try to adapt to the digital age, I think the straight forward GUI could be useful. If grandpa wants sports news, he can just click the sports button, and he gets a pop up of sports news. If grandma wants to email her favorite grand kid, she simply click the mailbox.

Dont get me wrong, I hate AOL with a passion. My account got hacked back in the day when i was a n00b kid like 12-13 years old. My dad called and got the password reset. But they managed to hack me again not 30 min latter. Password reset AGAIN. Hacked again 30 min later. My dad told them I should not have to put up with this. There response, "well no one is forcing him to sit at the computer and be on line." Not a smart answer. My dad went on to raise some MAJOR hell after that remark lol.

811.3.2011 03:30

Essentially, they offer a fake desktop with limited capabilities that runs on top of high speed internet from other companies. It is intended for those who don't know how to use a computer, and it is designed to prevent such people from ever learning even the most basic things.

911.3.2011 04:52

Quote:
Essentially, they offer a fake desktop with limited capabilities that runs on top of high speed internet from other companies. It is intended for those who don't know how to use a computer, and it is designed to prevent such people from ever learning even the most basic things.

So...They offer a smoke and mirrors product for people that don't know any better. Hmm...I say let 'em go down in flames.

1011.3.2011 09:56

AOL over charged people...
I remember paying 29.99 with cable paying 29.99... just have to pay installation fee.

Same with MSN 39.99 with cable it's 29.99 as well depending on the speed.

I have cable which is 39.99 and installation fee is around 50 to 60.00

I'm moving out and right now we will be getting Clear which I heard sucks...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 11 Mar 2011 @ 9:58

1111.3.2011 12:40

Let's clear some stuff up here, yes they offer what Killerbug says but that is a minuscule piece of their revenues.

They are a portal company, just like Yahoo, offering news, content, etc at aol.com in exchange for advertising revenue. Both Yahoo and AOL have gigantic traffic.

1211.3.2011 12:51

Originally posted by lissenup2:
AOL just close already!!!!!!

Jackass company is knowingly ripping people off by NOT informing those that are paying for an email address that they don't need to pay anymore. That is without any integrity and honor and AOL is a loser company.

I can't believe they even have 900 people to actually lay off and shame on them for outsourcing to India.
I second that!

1311.3.2011 13:13

Nice to see time is the worse enemy for sucky companies. AOL (or as i called it SOL), i never used, could never see the need for it, just get an ISP directly. Never saw the need to pay for a portal that would push advertising and get in my way of browsing and using the web. I would suggest to all my friends to get off AOL and got plenty off.

Might be just the way I think, but i considered Blockbuster and SOL (ooops aol) in about the same regard, nice to see them both on the way out :) Bye Bye to both and good riddance!!!!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 11 Mar 2011 @ 1:22

1414.3.2011 00:00

Unfortunately, they do still have a lot of customers, or at least a lot of users. They do email, instant messaging, and they even have a search engine (I think it is just Yahoo with a different look and more advertising). They don't have one service that isn't at least equaled by either google or yahoo...but people keep using them anyway.

They also still take a lot of money in from their old dial-up service. Not that people are using it, but AOL frequently refuses to stop charging for the service after it has been turned off. Even after multiple phone calls, it is often necessary to close the bank account that AOL is charging automatically. Because of this (and because some people never notice the extra charge to begin with), many former AOL customers are still paying $20-$30 a month.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

News archive