AOL to lay off up to 5,000 workers (Global 1/4 Work Force)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14169456/

AOL said Thursday it would drop as many as 5,000 employees, or a quarter of its global work force, within six months as the company restructures its business to draw more online advertising dollars.

The announcement came a day after the Time Warner Inc. unit said it would no longer charge high-speed Internet customers for e-mail and other services.

An unknown number of European employees will still have jobs but with a different company as AOL looks to shed its Internet access businesses in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. AOL currently has 3,000 access employees in Europe.

But massive layoffs around the world are expected as AOL stops actively marketing its dial-up services in the United States and reduces its need for customer-support centers.

[Up2Late]

1. "...customer-support centers..." AOL Code for people in the Billing dept.

...or billing dispute center. This may not save AOL, but it will save me from having to close down my old e-mail box I've had since 1992 and $5.95 per month.

[unda cova brutha]

2. this is disgrasful.

boycot AOL to show them how you feel about making 5000 people unemployeed.

[NashVegas]

3. How Does 5k Lay-Offs Bring Advertising Dollars?

Are all the advertisers stockholders?

[napi21]

4. I feel very sorry for the 5,000 people, but it's AOL's poor mgm't

ideas that are the cause!

I assume you hear the story about Enzio Ferrari trying to cancel his account with them, and he recorded the call. It took him almost 45 minutes (I think) to finally accomplish that!

AOL was great when it first started. Millions of people who had never met a computer were helped a lot with the AOL computer friendly abilities of their system. In more recent years, AOL has just gotten BAD! I can't tell you how many complaints I've heard from their subscribers who don't get their emails, or charities who's emails gt rejected because of some of the spam filters AOL has incorporated!

[Sherman A1]

6. Agreed

[reprobate]

5. Friends don't let friends AOHell. Training wheels for the internet.

[mcscajun]

7. They had 5,000 in Billing alone?

Nope. There's got to be more than Free E-Mail behind this layoff, and there is: AOL is circling the drain.

Could it be that fewer and fewer people require AOL's playpen before moving into the big, bad world of the real 'Net? :)