New York
– Unable to sufficiently reduce its headcount through voluntary layoffs, AOL (NYSE: AOL)
said on Monday that it will lay off more than 1,000 employees this week, with
the bulk of those affected set to be notified on Wednesday. The company said
that only 1,100 workers volunteered to leave — far short of its goal of up to
2,500.
"At the time we announced the voluntary program we noted that if we
didn’t reach our target reduction of a third we would need to follow the
voluntary program with an involuntary action," the company said in a statement. "We did not reach that target."
AOL also said that it plans to shut
down many of its offices in Europe, beginning with those in Spain and Sweden.
The cuts, aimed at cutting
expenses by $300 million a year, will leave AOL with about 4,400 employees,
down from a high of more than 20,000.
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As expected, I knew they couldn’t have hit the 2500 goal through the voluntary program. It’s too difficult task for their HR department. From more than 20000 to 4400, looks like AOL is really going down hill. No wonder Google gave up their 5% ownership back to Time Warner at a big lost!