AOL is to shut down many of its European offices after failing to cut a third of its international workforce through voluntary redundancy. Although 1,100 of the company's staff have taken voluntary redundancy, a further 1,000 cuts are expected across the US and Europe.
The company announced plans late last year that it would be cutting 2,500 jobs worldwide as it attempted to save $300 million a year, but the Guardian reports that the shortfall on those taking up voluntary redundancy means more jobs will have to be cut.
Although AOL UK would not detail how many jobs would be cut, but it did say would be closing its offices in Spain and Sweden, as well as four German offices. AOL's operations in France have yet to decide whether they will be closing their Paris office.
Over the pond in the USA, the company said that it will "begin notifying a limited number of individuals impacted by the involuntary lay-off... with the majority of notifications taking place in the USA on 13 January." AOL added that "for many of the employees impacted in the USA Wednesday will be their last day in the office." The Seattle office, home of some of AOL's mobile operations, will also be closed and centralised in California.
A spokesman for AOL said, "We have looked at every aspect of this business. We evaluated our competitive position and product portfolio in every market, and we asked the hard questions about areas that were no longer core to the strategy and our profit profiles in the businesses and countries where we operate."
The spokesman also stressed that the offices of successful divisions, such as AdTech, would be unaffected by the restructuring.
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