RSSAOL's spinoff from Time Warner to shed 2,500 jobs
By Tim Conneally | Published November 19, 2009, 10:02 AM
As Time Warner continues the process of spinning AOL off into a separate, independent company, AOL will lose a third of its workforce. The spinoff is expected to be completed on December 9. In filings with the Securities and Exchange commission earlier this month, Time Warner said the split will cost more than $200 million in restructuring charges.
Today, AOL has reportedly instituted a voluntary layoff program, asking for 2,500 employees to give up their jobs in exchange for severance packages. If this number cannot be reached, AOL will begin laying off people anyway. The soon-to-be spun off company is looking to reduce its operating expenses by $300 million.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong will reportedly be giving up his 2009 bonus, which would have been more than $1.5 million.
"As a member of our team and the person who takes accountability for the results of the company, I am making the decision to forego my 2009 bonus," Armstrong wrote to employees. "That decision is a personal one and is not a sign for the future payout of the overall bonus plan for employees."
The fact that jobs will need to be cut AFTER the spin-off just shows the total ineptitude TW/AOL.
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|It was a bizarre move purchasing AOL and it has never made any sense. The writing was already on the wall. We never saw AOL leveraged as described to push TimeWarner media either.
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|AOL bought TW not the other way around: http://money.cnn.com/2000/01/10/deals/aol_warner/. Very true, though, that AOL was never leveraged to push Time Warner media. The corporate structure (and company name) was changed when Levin and Case were ousted.
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|There certainly was a time when AOL was #1, but that was a long time ago and possibly more a result of the "carry-over" of users from one business model to another. Since then, they had difficulty making the necessary adjustments from being an information provider, when it was more of a "BBS", to being an ISP. Many of the "games" they played with their accounts, did not go over very well and they continually lost members / accounts, ever since.
I am sorry for the job losses, but hopefully, on their own, they may correct some of their oddities and be able to move forward. They did, after all, once, have the "Google" of their day... "Webcrawler", as I recall it.
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|Time Warner stopped re-investing in research and upgrades for AOL right after the purchase, according to someone who worked for Time Warner and was familiar with the company's internal financial maneuverings. Guess now that Time Warner will stop taking the remaining income from AOL, maybe AOL has a chance of doing better. I wish them luck, based on what they once were, the #1 ISP. Plus I thank them for all the coasters.
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|You lost me after the first sentence. AOL bought Time Warner, yes, that was how big AOL was.
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