NEW YORK - AOL, Inc.(NYSE:AOL) confirmed the dismissal of more than 40 employees from its West Coast offices towards the end of this month. Through the anonymously voiced out statements of several executives, wider cuts are expected in the weeks to come. The layoffs are expected to include more than 100 AOL employees. The cut down of the employees was the deepest in the AIM Unit of AOL. According to a former employee of AOL, the group was, “eviscerated and now only consists of support staff and nearly all of the West Coast tech team has been killed”. The employee however, did not want to be named being devoid of any formal authority to speak publicly about the company.
In the next level, AOL is expected to cut employees who work at Patch.com. There are other cuts also expected to happen over the next month but those would be marginal. In a statement given to The New York Times, AOL confirmed last week’s layoffs. “We are making some strategic but very difficult changes to better align our resources with key areas of growth for us as a company,” the statement said. “We remain committed to our presence in Silicon Valley and driving innovation in consumer products and mobile.” Among those who would be dismissed, is Jason Shellen, the Vice President of the AOL messenger products, based in the company’s West Coast offices. He also once ran Thing Labs. Layoff rumors had been churning around the company for several weeks.
Shares of AOL closed Tuesday at $ 17.84 minimally higher on the session. Past trading days have the stock consolidating at its 50 day moving average. In addition, have shown a smooth rally so far this year with the stock adding over 18%, but down about 9% over the past one year.
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