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America Online to Lay Off 700 Employees
AP via Breitbart.com ^ | Oct 19 2:09 PM US/Eastern | Staff

Posted on 10/19/2005 2:07:45 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative

America Online is laying off more than 700 employees, primarily in member-services call centers, in response to the ongoing decline in subscribers for its dial-up Internet-access services.

Under the plan, the Time Warner Inc. unit is closing its center in Orlando, Fla., and is cutting positions in centers in Jacksonville, Fla., and Tucson, Ariz., and at AOL's corporate headquarters in Dulles, Va.

The cuts amount to about 4 percent of AOL's 20,000 global work force. The company hasn't announced layoffs of this magnitude since December 2004.

AOL said the job cuts were driven by declining subscriber numbers, and were not engineered to attract potential strategic investors.

A number of suitors are interested in taking a stake in AOL's growing, advertising-supported online content business, including Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Corp., and a team-up of Google Inc. and Comcast Corp.

These players aren't interested in AOL's access business, which is large and highly profitable but declining as consumers shift to faster broadband access services. As of June 30, AOL had 20.8 million U.S. members, down 917,000 from the March quarter and 2.6 million from a year earlier. In Europe, AOL had 6.2 million members, down 99,000 from the previous quarter and 80,000 from a year earlier.

"We're at a point in time where it makes sense to realign our access business," said AOL spokesman Nicholas J. Graham. "A lot has changed regarding our membership and access business and we're managing that transformation."

Time Warner shares slipped 10 cents to $17.63 in afternoon trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: aol; layoffs; shadenfreud
Shadenfreud!
1 posted on 10/19/2005 2:07:48 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: Paleo Conservative


I didn't know they had that many employees cause when I had aol I kept getting the same indian man who couldn't understand me and insisted on reading me his instruction manual every time I called.


2 posted on 10/19/2005 2:17:58 PM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: SouthernFreebird

AOL is a POS.


3 posted on 10/19/2005 2:18:50 PM PDT by yobid (Don't pet the sweaty things.......)
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To: yobid


10-4


4 posted on 10/19/2005 2:21:45 PM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: Paleo Conservative
So now, instead of talking to "Paul" in Bangalore, if your Internet connection goes down you'll have to log into their website for assistance.

Talking to a dead connection will take less time than talking to "Paul".

AOHell is teetering, and that's A Very Good Thing.

5 posted on 10/19/2005 2:26:54 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
AOL spokesman Nicholas J. Graham. "A lot has changed regarding our membership . . . "

". . . we don't have one anymore."

6 posted on 10/19/2005 2:27:49 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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7 posted on 10/19/2005 2:30:21 PM PDT by ecurbh (Join the Hobbit Hole Troop Support - http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net/)
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To: SouthernFreebird

That's hilarious.
I think he now works for Dell.


8 posted on 10/19/2005 2:31:07 PM PDT by Muzzle_em (I'm an island awash in a sea of stupidity)
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To: ShadowAce
America Online is laying off more than 700 employees, primarily in member-services call centers, in response to the ongoing decline in subscribers for its dial-up Internet-access services.

Tech Ping.

9 posted on 10/19/2005 2:33:08 PM PDT by rit
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To: Paleo Conservative

AOL does this every year. Just an easy way to shed unwanted employees.


10 posted on 10/19/2005 2:38:53 PM PDT by ican'tbelieveit
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To: Paleo Conservative

I hope they layoff whoever created their annoying commercials, and that loopy airhead mom who thinks she knows everything and jumps on the meeting room table...


11 posted on 10/19/2005 2:43:13 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: SouthernFreebird

Expect more of that. My nephew (whitebread neo-conservative) was among those 700. His wife is going in for surgery Monday. As I understand it, he is getting to keep health ins for 30 days, so he is not going to get royally reamed out because of her surgery.

I called the *local phone number* for CompUSA store and got India. Big help with my question. You want to talk to the store manager? Drive to the store and ask for him in person. Jeez.


12 posted on 10/19/2005 2:54:10 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s......you weren't really there.)
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To: SouthernFreebird


AOL is still up and running? If so, why?

;->


13 posted on 10/19/2005 2:56:45 PM PDT by corlorde (New Hampshire)
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To: ecurbh

14 posted on 10/19/2005 3:07:44 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence - R. Kirk)
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To: Paleo Conservative

I live in the country and only dial up is available. A.O.L. is terrible. No, I don't want another of your incessant pop ups to help me choose my long f-ing distance company.
A.O.L. Sucks.
Your news is less then informative and if I try to go to any other search engine it is like you guys go into a corner and have a hissy fit.
Yahoo blows you clowns away.


15 posted on 10/19/2005 3:29:36 PM PDT by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: Paleo Conservative
The company hasn't announced layoffs of this magnitude since December 2004.

Wow thats a whole 10 months ago.
16 posted on 10/19/2005 3:51:21 PM PDT by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
It's Bush's fault!

Well, SOMEONE had to say it!

17 posted on 10/19/2005 3:57:22 PM PDT by ssaftler
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To: festus

Hope Time mag/rag has some of these.


18 posted on 10/19/2005 4:19:07 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Roger that. AOL was my first ISP (hey, I was a N00b and didn't know any better). After many slow connections and many busy signals in the evening hours and many more "Goodbye! Goodbye!" disconnects for no apparent reason I canceled the service. Even though I canceled, AOL continued to bill my credit card! What a mess it was trying to get that straightened out!


19 posted on 10/19/2005 6:05:18 PM PDT by octobersky
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