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Massive Layoffs At AOL
JLavezzo writes "Several news sites are reporting that the United States' largest ISP has laid off 750 employees. My sources at AOL put the actual number at approximately 950 regular employees and 300 contractors from various departments including new technology and marketing. The contractors aren't mentioned by the news outlets. Severance packages are known to include up to four months pay and keeping laid off employees on the AOL payroll through February (to retain health insurance). With most of the layoffs coming from the Northern Virginia offices, what are their hopes for finding new jobs?"
What a lovely gift. No?
With most of the layoffs coming from the Northern Virginia offices, what are their hopes for finding new jobs?
What's the point? 950 regular employees were just laid off for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHATSOEVER. What's going to stop the next employer from doing the same thing? What is the point of trying to build a career that can be stolen arbitrarily?
The economy is doing VERY well. AOL is not about to go out of business. They still have millions of subscribers and they are probably earning about $40M a month in subscriber revenue. If the company were about to go out of business, that would be one thing. This is just arbitrary.
It is standard corporate thinking. Just pick 1200 people and fire them. Who the fuck cares if they have mortgages? That's their problem. Short-term money grab thinking.
Disney did the same thing earlier this year. In fact, they fired an ENTIRE STUDIO that was directly responsible for NINE FIGURES in top-line revenue. Why? Because they felt like it.
This is no different. W-4 employment is a sham. No business would ever depend on a similar agreement for anything, especially anything upon which revenue depends. W-4 employment is unfair and obsolete, and layoffs like these are cruel, groundless and destructive.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
I know that you're trying to be funny, but you may be more right than you know. Why do we automatically assume that most of the people being let go are actually technology workers? The vast majority of those people being laid off are probably regular Joe, non high-tech workers. Some of which are will probably be fine pushing paper elsewhere.
It's always a sad thing when someone gets laid off, but it's been a long time coming at AOL. They've been hemorraging money and, IMHO, being irresponsible with their money by not cutting costs and downsizing.
When will AOL learn. People are leaving because competitors are offering cheaper and faster services. If you want to stay competitive, lower your prices. People are not going to continue to pay $23.90/mon. when they can get DSL for a couple dollars more, or dial-up for less than $10/mon.
On the one hand, I feel really bad for all those people having to find places to go in the NOVA job market. Right before the holidays too, raw deal.
On the other hand, I bet that whinny, nasally actress in the commercials playing the mother sneaking into the AOL boardroom is having a fantasic Christmas. She's probably making tons in residuals for one or two days work.
AOL must have spent hundreds of millions broadcasting those commericals, I hardly even watch TV and see them all the time. It's almost as bad as the promotional CDs that still pile up everywhere in my home.
1999 taught me never to trust a company that spends that heavily on marketing.
M
As someone who has one of those juicy government contracting jobs, I can tell you that they're a hell of a lot easier to get once you have one of those juicy government security clearances.
I guess that I got lucky. My current employer was willing to hire me for a position that required a DoD clearance even though I didn't have one yet. I was young and willing to work for less money than I was worth because of the missing clearance. It took about 7 months for me to get my clearance, and in the past two years my salary has caught up to what I feel I'm worth to the company.
Oh god that's scary. A fairly famous programmer can't get work, and we're supposed to compete right out of college?
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
He tells me that he expects nullsoft to be terminated soon because it's definately not making them any money
This was rumored for a while, right? Like these articles from 3 weeks ago.
The Winamp guys have my sympathy, but they will find jobs if they try hard enough. If I can get a job (Laid off twice since 2000, I will be laid off next year, my coworkers are leaving for other jobs before they get laid off), the programmers of one of the most famous pieces of software will also find jobs.
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
No, you'll get a job because you're fresh ... thus easier to pay. A Famous Programmer will want twice what a college grad will get...
Who doesn't like free music?
What is with all the posts blaming this a sour economy?
It is NOT an economic failing when an antiquated dealer of yesterdays technology downsizes...And then eventually goes away.
Think about it. A majority of people are hooking up with local broadband dealers (cable, dsl, wireless), I would not be surprised to see AOL go the way of the Cart and Buggy dealers of old....And it will not be the economy that does them in, it will be the fact that their main product is obsolete.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
You are likely joking, but really a lot of people live very close to thier means, or even past it.
The minute they start making any significant amount over what thier used to after graduation they go out and run up credit card bills, buy toys, a nice car a nicer house, and so on.
If they were to keep thier standards of living simular to what they had in college till all thier student loans were paid off and just save any extra and keep thier outgo (especially long term outgo such as house payments) down below what others at the same income level are doing they would find themselves much better off. Keep a credit card if you must, but never put on it more than you can pay off when the bill comes in.
You'd be suprised how much you can save.
I saved about $3k in 8 months on a 24k a year job by simply not replacing my pos car right when I could, never using a credit card, not buying every toy I saw, not having cable tv, no longer trying to have a bleeding edge PC (I've given in a little there since then). I didn't really short myself much (not having cable tv GAVE me time as well as freed up $$) I still ate out some, hung out with my friends, saw a few movies, bought a few games and read several good books.
Of course if you have kids soon out of college the picture changes more than a little bit.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea