AOL looks to slash staff by a third

[RSS Robot]

AOL, which will be spun off from parent company Time Warner next month, wants to cut its staff by about a third, and is giving employees a chance to volunteer to join the ranks of the unemployed.

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[ChrisC]

To be honest, I'm utterly shocked they're doing as well as they are. The near-monopoly they had as an ISP up until about '03 or '04 when all of the big cable internet companies came around was staggering, but they dropped off fairly quickly when people learned about the actual options available besides what their computer came pre-loaded with. It's somewhat surprising that AOL manages anywhere near as well as they presently do, even with the shift in focus.

That aside, I don't quite understand the benefit of 'choosing' to be unemployed...it seems fairly stupid. Are they going to give the employees a severance package, or some form of financial assistance? What about job placement, helping them move on, not just out? Volunteering to be terminated sounds like the worst idea out there...